View Full Version : Info on US air ambulances
Looking for advice on working in the US as an EMS pilot, any useful links or other info appreciated!
Currently a UK EMS pilot.
RDRickster
2nd Nov 2003, 22:27
Check your PM's for info. I would have posted the information on PPRuNe, but my link was to another forum, and it would be bad form to do so.
Fatigue
3rd Nov 2003, 01:29
The US EMS pilots are severly underpaid (in most cases) eg. Start pay $44,500 (work that out in pounds)!! for EMS up in the north east, Philadelphi way, where house prices are not that much different to the UK, then take out your medical each month...get the point! Also in the US there is a severe lack of respect for these "drivers," a lot of the shifts are 7 on 7 off, 12 hour days, and often you will exceed this and the extra hours you are not paid for!!!!!!!!!!!!! This isn't EVERY EMS program that does this but the majority... The US also flies Night vfr, (we know that this an unsafe practice as they fly to unknown landing sites) also they do single pilot IFR as well.....All for that huge paycheck!
hope this helps.
ppheli
3rd Nov 2003, 12:43
Useful links coming up as requested...
A good site to start at for US EMS is www.flightweb.com There is also www.airems.com but it seems from a regular, but fleeting, glance at this one that it is dependant on more up to date sites.
rotorcaptain
5th Nov 2003, 17:51
Hey Fatigue...I think you would find that most of us who are US EMS pilots relish the 7&7 12 hour schedule. As for going over the twelve hours that does happen, not regularly but it does happen, and only if it is deemed a medical necessity. As for your opinion of night VFR being "unsafe" and landing at unknown landing sites, I'm sure that once again you would find the majority of us who do it on a regular basis are well trained as well as professional enough to know when an lz is unsafe or when we shouldn't be out flying VFR, SPVFR, or for that matter SPIFR. Until you do the job you know not of what you speak.
Hey rotorcaptain.......
Quote 'As for going over the twelve hours that does happen, not regularly but it does happen, and only if it is deemed a medical necessity.'
Maybe YOU should read the regs a little more before admonishing someone. Quote 'Until you do the job you know not of what you speak.'
CFR14 Part135.267 Read it and learn...
rotorcaptain
6th Nov 2003, 01:50
Maybe I wasn't clear on how far over we occassionally go over the twelve hour shift. If you read the FAR, that you don't seem to think I know, you will see that we can fly for up to 14 hours per 24 period. We do not exceed that limit.
§ 135.267 Flight time limitations and rest requirements: Unscheduled one- and two-pilot crews.
(a) No certificate holder may assign any flight crewmember, and no flight crewmember may accept an assignment, for flight time as a member of a one- or two-pilot crew if that crewmember's total flight time in all commercial flying will exceed --
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, during any 24 consecutive hours the total flight time of the assigned flight when added to any other commercial flying by that flight crewmember may not exceed --
(1) 8 hours for a flight crew consisting of one pilot; or
(c) A flight crewmember's flight time may exceed the flight time limits of paragraph (b) of this section if the assigned flight time occurs during a regularly assigned duty period of no more than 14 hours and --
(1) If this duty period is immediately preceded by and followed by a required rest period of at least 10 consecutive hours of rest;
(2) If flight time is assigned during this period, that total flight time when added to any other commercial flying by the flight crewmember may not exceed --
(i) 8 hours for a flight crew consisting of one pilot; or
(ii) 10 hours for a flight crew consisting of two pilots; and
magbreak
6th Nov 2003, 03:02
HOGE is this a cunning plan to escape the clutches of marriage or have you told the good lady of your plans?? :D :D :ok:
Rotorcaptain..
You may exceed the 14 hour limit as imposed by the FARS.. It all revolves around the "Planned completion time" of the assignment.
Unneccesary delays etc etc, as long as you then do not fly fatigued [Feds will attempt to get you on 91.13(a)].
BTW the limit is not the 14 hours, but the 10 hours of rest required in the previous 24 hour period..
And yes I do know as I have received several legal interpretations of far 135,267 from the FEDS regarding this issue...
Fly safely
C4
Ps. I was not trying to piss you off..
Thomas coupling
6th Nov 2003, 08:11
Does this "7 plus 7" mean you do 7 continuous days/nights in a row?
up to 14hrs a day !!!
$44,000/yr..............
:yuk: :yuk:
RDRickster
6th Nov 2003, 09:29
Here's another EMS website I happen to come across today. It's call the National EMS Pilot's Association (click here) (http://www.nemspa.org/). If you really want to know what's going on in the community, contact the folks listed on the website.
It is generally 12 hour shifts with 7 days on then 7 off, rotating to 7 nights on and then 7 off...
It is actually a great shift cycle for EMS if the program is not too busy. If the program is busy, the week of night shift can become very long and very tiring..
rotorcaptain
6th Nov 2003, 22:10
Copy that C4. Thanks.
whoateallthepies
6th Nov 2003, 22:21
HOGE
If you are not a US citizen your big problem is getting a green card in the first place.:hmm:
Fatigue
7th Nov 2003, 00:15
To C4 and Rotorcaptain.........
Just wondering, but surely after working 7 days at 12hours + each day, at the end of your work week, mental fatigue MUST be a problem????? I can't imagine working 12 hrs for 7 days in ANY profession where you would not be just a little tired at the end of it!!!!!!!!! No big deal if you are stacking shelves at the local supermarket, but a night flight, seventh day, poor vis, low ceilings, end of shift...get my point?
Could this be why the US EMS operators have the highest accident rate compared to other helicopter professions??????????
:uhoh:
Yes, you can be tired from a weeks work.. If your program is a really busy one.. They tend to change their schedule to reflect the busy-ness of the program. Day shift is not a problem, but long night shifts can be brutal. You do get used to it (Circadian rhythyms adjust), especially after doing it for a few years.
RE. the accident rate.. The accident rate was very bad in the 80's and early 90's. It has changed very much since about 1996.. The statistics all date back as far as the beginning of helicopter ems, and does not reflect the very low current rate.
Be safe out there
C4
Thomas coupling
7th Nov 2003, 02:09
Let's see here:
7 x 12hr shifts
low pay.
What type of pilot applies for this job? {Actually it sounds more like a junior hospital doctor's job!}
I would guess, either a junior joe who is keen to get any flying job, or an ex mil pilot with a pension doing EMS as a hobby.
Mmmm - interesting CRM issue perhaps.
Whoateallthepies.
No I'm not a citizen, and the Green Card Lottery appears to exclude the UK, (amongst other countries), for this year's draw, so that's that avenue knackered.
Is there an excess of helicopter pilots in the states still, or would a foreign national have a chance of being sponsored for a work permit by a US company?
whoateallthepies
8th Nov 2003, 00:32
It's a couple of years since I tried to find work in the US. I had a positive response to my CV from a few EMS outfits but none of them were prepared to sponsor for a green card. I think there are still plenty of US pilots looking for work!
Let me know if you have any luck.
No such thing as "sponsoring" in the USA aviation world gents!!!!
INS have determined that pilots are not a professional form of employment and as such are not eligible for the H type (sponsorship) visas.....
So Sorry...
whoateallthepies
8th Nov 2003, 16:14
So that's why they wouldn't do it!:rolleyes:
Heliport
10th Nov 2003, 03:19
Idaho Journal New LifeFlight helicopter arrives
POCATELLO - Portneuf Medical Center LifeFlight pilot Ron Fergie said the hospital's new helicopter will enable him to do his job faster and safer than before.
Friday, PMC received the $3.9 million helicopter, an Agusta A109E Power, and hospital officials expect to have it in service within about a month.
The hospital purchased the aircraft with insurance money from a November 2001 LifeFlight helicopter crash which injured pilot Tim Brulotte.
The hospital leased a helicopter shortly after the crash and will return it once pilots are properly trained to fly the new one.
"It's beautiful. It handles like a dream," Fergie said. "This is much more stable, and it's safer."
The helicopter is also capable of cruising at about 170 mph, much faster than the leased craft. Saving time is vital to LifeFlight, which serves a 150-mile radius around Pocatello.
PMC's leased helicopter takes about 75 minutes to fly to Salt Lake City. The new one is capable of making the trip in about 50 minutes.
"It gives us an opportunity to provide a much better service to the community," Fergie said.
Fergie and LifeFlight's other three pilots will each complete at least 10 hours of in-flight training before using the new helicopter on calls.
Patients in the leased helicopter have their lower torsos inside a tunnel. In the new one, the LifeFlight team has easy access to their entire bodies.
PMC's LifeFlight, the state's first air emergency transportation service implemented in 1983, makes about 350 flights a year.