Why did you pick EMS?

[Crusty Old Dude]

If it hasn't been mentioned, August 2007 Rotor & Wing (40th Anniversary) has an excellent article by Brian Swinney regarding EMS flying and a mishap in bad weather.

 

He then does a full-blown account of the incident in October 2007 of the same magazine.

 

check them out online here:

 

http://www.avtoday.com/rw/commercial/ems/14528.html

 

http://www.aviationtoday.com/rw/commercial/ems/16158.html

 

All of the discussion about safety and EMS made me remember these articles...

[Guest rotorflyr84]

This might be a little off topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread just for this quick answer to my question.

 

So you choose EMS, and you get hired as a SIC. My question is, how do you log your flight time as SIC? Is it still considered PIC time for you? What are the responsibilites of a SIC crew member? Does the SIC and the PIC ever switch seats on any flights?

 

I hear a lot about PIC , but very little on SIC crew members.

 

Thanks !

[Gomer Pylot]

Switching seats on a flight gets to be pretty tricky. It's best to wait until after landing and shutting down. Which seat you sit in is a matter of choice, usually the PIC's choice. It does depend on the model, but most helicopters with two pilots can be flown from either seat, although one may be mandatory for solo flight. There are some other threads on the forum discussing this.

 

As an SIC, you can log P time (PIC is another thing altogether) any time you're manipulating the controls. You are never the PIC, but you can log P time. The PIC can also log the time as PIC time (which counts the same as P), as long as the aircraft requires 2 pilots for the operation being conducted. You can log SIC time when you're not manipulating the controls. This counts toward total time, but not P time. This is mostly a matter of semantics.

[blade400]

Awesome thread guys. All the ems pilots that have responded have just made me want this job more. Thanks, and great job!

Edited January 9, 2008 by blade400

[West Coaster]

I do it for the challenging flying... and all the overtime on every pay cheque haha.

 

The guys are right to say that to do this for the glory of saving people is wrong. That's the medics job, I'm just the driver. It might sound callous, but once I hit the starter I totally forget about what's going on right behind me. To be brutally honest.... I don't care. I can't care for the reasons the others have stated. It's dangerous thought.

 

My joy is in the flying aspect, plain and simple. To me nothing beats a tight confined area landing next to a car wreck, or streaking over terrain at 100' because the patient is very altitude sensitive. Also love those hairy hospital rooftop landings in high wind that doesn't know which way to blow.

 

Had a cool flight the other day that I'll remember forever:

We were heading back to base with just the medics in the back, with our sister medivac ship also inbound about 3 miles off our left side, no patient inside either. My Captain radioed them to check their ground speed from the Garmin 530, they were showing 142 kts. So were we... damn. No taunting them this time. Then dispatch radioed the other ship that they were to go to another hospital asap. They accepted the call but had to still go to base first for fuel. They radioed tower that they would take the lead, as they were again a medivac flight now. Their Captain then radioed us back laughing... he would win the race home by default.

 

Just then dispatch radioed us. I answered the call for an auto-launch priority call and we accepted it but also needed more fuel. As both our ships approached the call in point for inner tower, the Captain tossed the machine over hard and pulled in fast onto the tail of our sister ship. We were now in a tight 2-ship echelon formation. The lead machine told tower we'd both been reactivated and would like to land in formation so neither would have to break off and circle while the other landed on the pad and taxiied off. Tower okayed it and cleared us both to land at our discretion. So the lead landed upwind on the helipad on the taxiway while we took the pad itself. While they had to turn around and backtaxi to our company ramp, we simply just hung a left. As he pulled in behind us he told the ground crew on the radio he needed fuel immediately. But as we were the priority call, we got a hot refuel while he had to wait. We won the race after all.

 

It's getting to do fun crap like that which makes it worth while for me.

[TheLorax]

do you sleep at the hospital/hangar?

[Wally]

do you sleep at the hospital/hangar?

 

Wherever the base is, there's almost always facilities for crew rest. I'm "community based" or a stand alone program, that is-no hospital sponsorship, and the base is at an airport. The medical staff have separate private bedrooms, and the pilot has a combined office/bedroom.

[Gomer Pylot]

We have an apartment for sleeping on our off 12 hours. There is a bedroom/office at the base, but that's for the pilot on duty, and the off-duty pilot uses the apartment for sleeping/resting/whatever. Some bases have separate bedrooms for both pilots. It depends a lot on the company and the schedule. I work 7/7, far from home, so I can't go home when I'm off duty but on schedule, and it's the same for most of us, at least in this state.