Rat Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 I noticed in the job forum that Med-Trans has a 1500 hour minimun requirement. I'm working on my private so I won't reach this for some time. I do hope this is a trend for the future. This has been brought up already but I will throw it out there again. Does having prior military flight crew experience and being a retired firefighter/paramedic help to gain employment ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delorean Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 Yeah, you might find a few HEMS jobs that only require 1500 hrs. They'll still want a certain amount of night, x/c, turbine time, but they may not be required. Usually, it's 2000 hrs, 1500 in helicopters, 500 turbine, 100 night--that's CAMTS--which is an accreditation program for a fair amount of HEMS operations. Also, some states have their own requirements for flying HEMS: IL, TN, KY, etc.....some are upwards of 3000 hrs, 2000 heli, 1000 turbine, etc. Be fore warned that the FAA has the microscope on HEMS ops right now, and undoubtely there will be some more restrictions put on it. Since most of the accidents have been at night + foul weather, try to get as much instrument and night time that you can--there may be a minimum sometime. And as far as military and fire/EMS experience time goes, it's not going to make a bit of difference. It will show you've worked as part of a team before (CRM stuff) and have worked in aviation, but it's not going to get you the job over someone who is more qualified. It's all about hours and previous HEMS experience. I had an A&P w/ IA, BS in Aviation Management, and a MBA--didn't get me anything more in my job, nor get me in any earlier. It was all about the 2000 hrs in my log book. And I would leave the part about being a paramedic out of your resume. They don't want you even knowing what's going on in the back. Plus the second you start trying to suggest anything to your medcrews, you're going to be out. Same goes for all these flight nurses and flight paramedics that go and get helicopter pilot training. Suddenly they're an expert critiquing your approaches and weather decisions. Keep that prior EMS experience to yourself. It's going to help you understand how the system works, plus being able to get out of bed, dressed, and get moving in a matter of minutes at 3AM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rat Posted August 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2008 Delorean, thanks for the information. I hope to achieve this after about 3 years, most likely it will take longer. The good thing is the road to get there is flying and teaching, both things that I love to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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