Question to our yankee friends

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

Dear all ,
If any pilot working in the U.S could answer few of my questions I would deeply apreciate it !

Why there is soo many medvac vacancies open a the present ??? the minimuns are too high, or there is a lack of helo pilots in the U.S???

Hows the helicopter Pilot salaries stand compared with the international avarage?
"most I've seen goes around 55k-70k for the first 3years of employment" is that a good, medium,or bad salary?

How good is the working conditions offered by those companies?
EX job security, benefits, etc....

The same questions goes for the offshore industry!

If there is anyone with experience in any of tose sectors that could enlight-me in those I would be gracefull

Sorry to bother if those questions were asked by others in the past I just couldnt find!

Safe flying to everyone!:ok:

[alouette3]

Sand Balls,
I will attempt to answer some of your questions if not all. I am sure my compatriots will fill in the blanks.
Vacancies for EMS positions is an on- going thing. The companies keep expanding and opening new bases.There is no shortage of helo pilots.There is a shortage of experienced EMS pilots. To keep that under control, the companies keep dropping their minimums and pretty soon, they will be at the lowest acceptable FAA minimum for a Part 135 Operation.They would rather do that than pay higher wages to attract a more experienced workforce.
Compared to the international average, EMS salaries are way lower than normal.However,it is an okay middle class income. You won't get rich doing it but it will put food on the table. The salary is also location related: 100K in California or the Northeast is starvation wages whereas 55k in the midwest is a good living.Throw in benefits and overtime (we HAVE to do O/T to add to the pot) and it is better than a lot of middle income jobs.
Job security is again company specific and location specific. A solid program, in business for a decade, is probably stable whereas a new base might be on the knife edge for three to six years. Benefits are okay. Most big companies do offer medical insurance, vacations and sick time. Few offer a retirement plan. But these are very much at the whim and fancy of the Board of Directors.If the company starts to bleed,benefits start to get the axe before lay offs. The bright side is that,health care(HEMS is part of that industry) was one industry that came through unscathed during the Great Recession.
I will let the guys in the Offshore sector fill you in on their part.Hope this helps.
Alt3.

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

Thanks for the answer man!!! very helpfull ! safe flying allways:ok:

[SASless]

I'll present the ugly view of EMS.....the work sucks!

****ty Management, bad pay, bad hours, poor training, high risk, jobs are usually somewhere you do not want to live (for whatever reason)...getting a posting elsewhere after being hired can be very hard to do....pilots are subject to being fired should they fall out of fashion with the Med crews, and don't ever think it is a flying job....as you are the Flying Angel who swoops in and saves lives.

There are exceptions to this...but I firmly believe if you polled the EMS pilots in an absolutely confidential anonymous manner and got a truthful response...they would support that view.

If you want to establish the validity of my comments....review the Accident Rates for previous years, the reluctance of the Operators to change, and the way the FAA hides its head in the sand while the mayhem goes on.

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

thanks for all information guys!!! allways good to hear both sides of a subject!

[Gomer Pylot]

Mostly, the work doesn't suck. It's mostly sitting around watching TV, surfing the internet, or sleeping/eating. The old joke is that EMS stands for Earn Money Sleeping. It's the rare occasions, such as the call at 2AM for a scene flight to land in a field or on a road and scrape up someone off the road and take them to a hospital, that sometimes suck. They aren't as bad as they used to be, though, since most programs now use NVGs, and any pressure to fly is mostly self-imposed. It still demands experience and a smooth control touch, and absolute concentration, though. I agree that the reason the pay is so low is that the list of people wanting to fly for nothing is very long. That's not just for EMS, though, it's aviation in general, and helicopters especially. So many low timers are willing to fly for free that the wages across the board are greatly depressed. There is never a shortage of pilots willing to take the jobs, just a shortage of experienced pilots willing to fly for the low wages.

[SASless]

So with this long list of pilots wanting the jobs...amongst which are bound to be qualified experienced pilots with NVG experience from the the Military....why have not wages gone up to attract those kinds of guys and gals? It is supposed to be a "Professional" Industry is it not?

Do the Operators not benefit from higher wages, more professional staff, lower accident rates, reduced turnover/training/recruiting-retention costs?

Wearing a sexy mauve colored pickle suit with accent stripes must meet those needs, eh?

[Gomer Pylot]

American corporations are almost universal in preferring short-term profits over long-term stability and profit. The bonuses and benefits for executives are all based on short-term profit and stock prices, so that's all they care about. Most HEMS companies are now operated by large corporations who care not at all about the long term, only about the next quarter, or two at the most. That means that the lower the wages, the better, regardless of the quality of the employees, and it's certainly not unique to HEMS, it's all corporations across the board.

It's also a fact that the long list of applicants includes too few experienced pilots, as I said above. There is never a shortage of pilots, but always a shortage of qualified, experienced pilots. Low-time pilots are willing to work for slave wages, driving down the wages for all pilots. That won't change.

[Devil 49]

"Why there is soo many medvac vacancies open a the present ??? the minimuns are too high, or there is a lack of helo pilots in the U.S???"

There is a problem attracting the experience needed at the compensation offered.

See this for more: compensation (http://www.helicoptersalaries.com/)

"How good is the working conditions offered by those companies?
EX job security, benefits, etc...."

There's no comprehensive answer to that question. Generally speaking, companies hate to lose a productive pilot and strive to retain them, unless it costs money...
Yes, EMS pilots are on call for mandatory overtime. My employer has agreed to contractual restrictions that aren't too onerous. I haven't been "called in" in a decade.
If your base produces and facilities lease endures, your job is generally secure unless you screw the pooch somehow. Bases do move and close when those factors aren't there, and the industry is always in a competitive flux.
I haven't observed the inter-professional strife between medical and aviation that is often remarked on. I've worked with some pretty "challenging personalities". I know people who know people who know of medical running pilots off.

I haven't done the offshore (Gulf of Mexico) thing in 16 years. The money was better, but you live out of a bag and never sleep at home while on-shift.

[Gomer Pylot]

There is zero mandatory overtime with my company. We can work it or not, our decision. Some pilots go out of their way to get it, and will drive long distances. Some refuse to work any at all. I work over at my base if it's convenient, and I've done a couple at other bases, but I don't do much of it. Mandatory overtime on short notice is the main reason I'm no longer working in the GOM. :mad: :ugh:

OTOH, I personally know pilots who were run off by the med crews. It happens. But if you're professional and competent, and can get along reasonably well with others, it's not often a problem.

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

I have heard that more than once now about the med crews beeing an ass($%* with the pilots....... and about the job security it doesnt really look that good either dough...
i was trying to compare these two segments with my country's offshore and medvac
however the second is held by the public services soo we dont really have any companies doing this kind of operations here, the offshore here looks pretty decent in my point of view, working rosters are 15x"15off" and the salary starts at 62k after taxes for a first year copilot
thanks for all the coments guys!

fly safe :ok: