Best medevac schedules?

[ricky tick]

I know there's a lot of you out there who work or have worked in medevac. From what I've heard the scheduling can really wear you down and it's only a short term gig for most.

Has anyone worked medevac longer term because they wanted to, or loved their scheduling, or had young family and thought the medevac was a good fit?

What's the schedule and province (or company if you're willing)?

Do any companies schedule set duty times vs. the "on-call but also resting" deal?

... and if a jumpsuit is good enough for the airforce and medevac, why don't others do it? Is it not as awesome as it looks?

[iflyforpie]

4 on 4 off. All days, 7am to 7pm. Occasional overtime. Overnight once or twice a month. No on call (unless you go home early). Significant wage and perks improvements in the last year to attract/retain pilots. Fairly new and very well maintained equipment. Mostly patient transfer with occasional medevacs. We wear normal pilot garb which makes taking a sh** much easier.

NT Air in YXS. Requirements are high so most people don’t bother, not in this market anyways.

[digits_]

In Manitoba you have Keewatin, Missinippi, Skynorth and Fast Air that all have X days on, X days off, with X in [7,14[
No shifts, basically on call 24/7

There is Perimeter with a similar schedule but with a rolling duty day: 9 hours on duty sitting in a crew house and you are good to go 14 hours or more again.

Ornge in Ontario has day and night shifts.

Government air in MB has a mix of shifts and on call stuff, but will probably cease to exist in the next 1-2 years if the privatization happens.

[Tailwheelup]

Does anyone have any ideas on which way the MB government will choose to operate future medevacs?

[MrTurbine]

7 on 7 off. I have also tried the Monday to Friday gig, all of it works fine. Friends of mine tried 14 on 14 off, they only made it about a couple of years before it was way too much. But 14 days off in a row, they got around the globe on vacations pretty easy, and not too hard to pull off if you can get a 6 figure (or close to it) salary.

Chief pilots at a hand ful of medivac outfits are around the 125-140k mark, while captains I’ve seen around the 85 - 105 k, that’s with a decent Christmas bonus

This is in northern Alberta and NWT.

[172_Captain]

7 on 7 off with maybe 1 or 2 fatigue days and of course a sick day per rotation. You’ll lose pay sure, but if you ask for a high enough salary stating pilot shortage, you’ll still come out ahead of the game and only work 2-3 days every 2 weeks.

[wondering?]

This is an interesting topic.
The best schedule that I have heard of (IMHO) is Carson Air out of Kelowna which is 5 on 5 off but the 5th day is on call and by the sounds of it, you don't get called in very often. So very often, you are 4 on and 6 off. And its all daytime flying.
The least appealing I have seen posted is 10 on 5 off, on call 24 hours a day for 10 days.
Is that very common to be on call 24 hours a day? I always thought that would be illegal somewhere in the regs. I definitely would be looking elsewhere if a company expected 24 hours on call and working 240 days a year.

[lownslow]

The least appealing I have seen posted is 10 on 5 off, on call 24 hours a day for 10 days.

Not all that long ago I used to be on call for medevac 24 hours a day for 12 days, then 4 off. At the time it was one of the better schedules in the area, though it still sucked.

[jorgeherrera.ca]

I work 8 on 4 off, 24 hours on call during the 8 on. I fly at any and all hours of the day and night to different airports pretty much every time so it is an interesting and definitely not boring job. I’ve flown from an uncontrolled middle of nowhere airport like chapleau ontario to a class b airport like cleveland...from bermuda to boston....from halifax to red deer alberta...from flagstaff arizona to toronto...from barbados to savador de brasil....the list goes on and on...and i also get to spend crazy quality time at home with my kids..sometimes stretches of 10 days at home chilling..i fly around 500-600 hours a year. Company’s latitude air ambulance out of hamilton ontario. Equipment is a lear 35a. Great chief pilot and captains have a diverse professional background so i’ve learned a ton in my 8 months in the company.

[Cessna 180]

Is there such thing as a "good" medevac schedule?

[lownslow]

Is there such thing as a "good" medevac schedule?

Different strokes for different folks. I myself would currently rather go like hell for a week then get a bunch of days off.

[Beaver Driver]

Is there such thing as a "good" medevac schedule?

I did 1 year on - rest of my life off, that was ok...

[ricky tick]

Thanks for the feedback all. Definitely a range of schedules, but the better ones on the list was what I was hoping to hear about. Here would be my shortlist:

Carson Air, Kelowna - 4 on, 1 on call, 5 off, daytime flying
NT Air, Prince George - 4 on, 4 off, daytime flying
ORNGE - I've heard 4 on, 4 off, rotating day/night schedules

Sounds like some guys make a happy living at this, glad to hear they aren't all just stepping stones for the airlines.