JamesAA

I am interested in flying twin props (King Air, Cheyenne) for a Medevac organization. Most of the organizations require at least 3000 hours. Are these jobs highly competitive? I'm starting anew (career change to from desk job to aviation), and trying to get a sense of what the Medevac/Medical Transport sector is like. Everywhere else I look seems grim--many qualified pilots not finding work.

Thanks in advanced.

flyguy37

CAMTS is the accrediting organization for most air ambulance operators. It is not required to operate but some states and many hospitals won't utilize services that are not CAMTS accredited. CAMTS sets minimum standards for pilot experience and this usually is about 2000 hours or more flight experience for a turboprop pilot. So most can't budge with that min. Also the low time SIC air ambulance jobs look good on the surface but many only fly 100 to 300 hours a year (yes I know there are exceptions) so it makes it a long road to reach PIC mins.

The biggest thing with air ambulance is location. Most airplanes are in smaller communities and fly patients in to big cities. If you don't mind living in the middle of nowhere or commuting it can work. There are planes based in more desirable larger urban areas but those usually go more senior and can be difficult to obtain.

I would very carefully consider a career change to aviation. It all depends on what you are currently doing. There is a pilot shortage coming but it is not for the good jobs. The majors and other good jobs will always have plenty of applicants. Flying is fun but personally if I had a career that allowed me to fly recreationally and still take care of my family I would do it. Not trying to be discouraging just giving my opinion.

Good luck

JamesAA

And I greatly appreciate your candid comments. I started this thread seeking real answers, not fluff, as it's obviously a significant decision with a lot at stake.

I very much appreciate you taking the time in giving me an overview of the profession.

I noticed while doing some research that indeed many of these outfits are located in smaller towns. Is it safe to presume this is because some of those smaller communities do not have the specialty hospitals that urban areas offer, hence the need to shuttle patients to the city for specialized care??

flyguy37

Bingo. There are basically two ways air ambulance companies operate. Either they have a contract with a local hospital, or they operate independently. If they have a contract the hospital pays a flat fee for the airplane, pilot, etc and often provide medical crews from their facility. The other situation the air ambulance company chooses a city where they think they can get a fair amount of flights and base an airplane there with their own crews and go around kissing hospital's butts hoping they will call when they need a transport. Because contracts come and go and demand changes bases can open and close frequently which can be frustrating if you just moved there.

Some operators require you sit at the airport 12 hours either on a day or night shift. Some let you take call from home if you live relatively close. It all varies. Some do seven days on/off and some do 20 or more days a month. Pay is 50-70k for turboprop PICs usually. Like any part of aviation there are crappy operators and great ones.

firedup

I have flown Air Ambulance for 13 years and 2 years ago switch to the airlines. We operated in a very large city. Hospital owned, we flew for our hospital and others around the US. It was a great job! Our company was pretty tough go get into, at times their were stretches of 4 years or more when we needed to hire pilots. If their are several openings, I would be leary about working for them. Their are some shady companies out there. The CAMTS certification is important because you have to have many many ducks in a row to qualify for that. they probably know what they are doing...
Our schedule was 5 on 5 off. you had to live in base but could be on call from the house if you lived 30 min from the airport. the pay was salary which was nice during the slow times...
we operated Citations and King Air's