AD MEDEVAC hours

phil123 · February 5, 2013

I'm currently an active duty 67J Medevac officer at rucker attending flight school. Knowing that most EMS require a minimum of 2000+ hours to be looked at how long would that take? Is that something that would take longer than the initial 6 year obligation? Also if anyone knows how many hours a year is the norm for medevac pilots? Thanks

Velocity173 · February 5, 2013

Unfortunately you joined the Medical Service Corps. As a Warrant Officer your hours would literally be double what you'll get. Plus by the time you graduate your chances to get hours by deploying will be slim. You'll be assigned a position as a Platoon Leader or XO in a Medevac Company. In peacetime you might get 100 hrs per year. The Medevac guys mostly train (hoist) and do very little real world stuff. Even in combat, while busy, they got about half the hours we got in VIP. Doing a Medevac mission takes maybe 1-2 hours. Flying a General around takes all day. You would have gotten more hours if you went GSAB or Air Assault.

Not a single one of my commission friends went on to fly after the Army. They don't get enough hours when they're active in order to get a job. Most went on to leadership positions in the business sector. I had a Plt Ldr in my last Company come up to me and ask about building hours outside of the Army. He was a UND guy who thought he was going to be flying all the time. Like my first Plt Ldr he probably didn't even realize that the Army had WOs flying aircraft.

I've met only one former commission pilot in EMS and it was the one who hired me. Only reason she had the hours was because she became an IP. Also she stayed in past 6 yrs. While we have a minimum of 2,000 hrs you'll see very few people get hired in with that. A friend of mine got hired on recently with 2,400 hrs and they were hesitant to take him. I flew for 12 yrs Army and got 3,900 hrs (IP) and I am the junior low time pilot at my base.

So I really can't give you any good news about flying after the Army in your situation. My advice would be to try and make PC ASAP and try and get as many hours as possible while in a line company. You'll have about a year possibly two years in that position before they move you on to some staff job. Get in good with the warrants because I can tell you I saw one MSC guy who burnt bridges and he languished in the TOC as a Battle Captain. I tried my best to get the guy hours but I had to look after my own guys first. Good luck to ya sir.

phil123 · February 5, 2013

I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed and straight response. Would being a former medevac pilot be looked at favorably over other pilot jobs since it would be the same role Id being doing in EMS or is it just about hours? Also would a Lakota transition help since i know the 72 is the DOD version of the EC 145 used by EMS? Thanks again.

Lindsey · February 5, 2013

EMS utilizes a variety of different aircraft which does include the EC-145 but is certainly not limited to it. I'll let Velocity speak to the rest, but I will add that hours are the biggest consideration, although you may have an advantage with respect to NVG time compared to a civilian applicant for the same EMS job. However, they will likely have more hours so it all shakes out.

akscott60 · February 5, 2013

No one is going to get 2000 after 6 years unless you deploy....and fly your ass off.

The two guys I know that recently got out had 6 years flying 58s in good budget conditions, and one combat tour each. That barely got them 2000hours.

Our FAC1 mins are 140 hours per year. No simulator.

SBuzzkill · February 6, 2013

Which we are going to be lucky to get if things pan out the way some people are talking...

akscott60 · February 6, 2013

No sh*t. We will fly as little as the Chinook guys do.

At least they have a sim. Hell, everyone else has a sim. Boo.

Velocity173 · February 6, 2013

I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed and straight response. Would being a former medevac pilot be looked at favorably over other pilot jobs since it would be the same role Id being doing in EMS or is it just about hours? Also would a Lakota transition help since i know the 72 is the DOD version of the EC 145 used by EMS? Thanks again.

No problem. Yes your Medevac experience would be looked upon favorably for a job. Even though you'll be flying 60s dual pilot, the short notice and lack of planning that Army Medevac experiences, is what we do in civilian EMS. In fact our chief pilot just was just talking about it the other day. He was saying some people in our field don't make the cut simply because they can't adapt to making rapid fire decisions with little planning. Essentially the phone rings, I confirm the wx, and we're airborne 3-5 mins later. He said the last two Part 135 407 classes he had 3 show and only 2 graduated. He then had 5 show and only 3 graduated. My 407 class was suppose to be 3 of us and I was the only one who showed up! The training kicked my butt the first few days but I was more than ready by checkride day. Our APARTs that we do in the Army are far more difficult than a Part 135 ride.

LUH-72s would help if you're trying to get a BK-117 or EC-145 slot, but outside that it really wouldn't matter. They wanted three things when they hired me. Lots of hours, single pilot time, and type aircraft experience. I flew Hawks as an IE and was offered IFR EC-135s but went with 407s and location instead of aircraft type. I enjoyed instruments in the Army but I really don't miss it. It's funny though, our 407 has far more IFR capability than the UH-60Ls that I flew but yet since it lacks twin engines an autopilot and a few other things, it's VFR only.

I really hope that you can get the hours you need but you've probably picked the worst track as far as getting hours. I've had plenty of buds who did Medevac and it's a real honorable job but just doesn't bring the hours. After my above post I even texted my bud who was a former Med SP about how many hours his MSC guys were getting per year. He said "not much. Maybe 100." I remember us poking at a CW3 (IP) at Rucker who was about to retire and he didn't even have the magical 2,000 hrs. He said something like "hey I did Medevac most of my career."

For commission guys who want to fly after Army and are not happy with where they are, I recommend a few paths. First, there are those who go warrant. Only seen a few go that route though so I'm not sure on the process to switch. I know guys who went CG, Navy, or Air Force to get flying time. Finally, I had friends who went 160th. They always fly. If you're really serious about flying after the Army then you need to go one of those routes.

akscott60 · February 6, 2013

Mmmmm 407

Velocity173 · February 6, 2013

Mmmmm 407

Yeah, actually out flying right now. Great little aircraft. My friend and I call it a "Lil Hawk". Plenty of power and fairly quick. Ours is an old 97 model but it's modified with a glass panel.

Velocity173 · February 6, 2013

No one is going to get 2000 after 6 years unless you deploy....and fly your ass off.

The two guys I know that recently got out had 6 years flying 58s in good budget conditions, and one combat tour each. That barely got them 2000hours.

Our FAC1 mins are 140 hours per year. No simulator.

Crap, I didn't know you guys had a min of 140 per year. Even without sim that's awesome.

d10 · February 6, 2013

I've never seen an MSC guy break 2000 hours, although if you stay in for a full 20 years you might get there. I know two guys who got out with 2000 hours and some Medevac experience and they were both able to find EMS jobs, so I think that's a realistic expectation at least.

electron_si · February 13, 2013

My buddy is an 02 deployed with a MS company and he has 63 hours in country after about 4 or 5 months now. In afghanistan. Just to give you an idea of what to expect on a deployment.

He just emailed me and said they are moving all the Lt's to the flagpole for planning/operations experience so he will be lucky to fly at all the next few months.

Just an idea of what to expect.