"Previous medevac experience required . . . "

Panama Jack · Post by **Panama Jack** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:12 am

I see this qualifier written on occasional "Help Wanted" ads for pilots. For those who have done so, what is the special "experience" gained from medevac flying that the competitors seek?

Canus Chinookus · Post by **Canus Chinookus** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:29 am

a strong back for those 300 lb stretchers with a twist to get them in the plane.

frog · Post by **frog** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:11 am

PPC on a pager!

mental vomit · Post by **mental vomit** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:19 am

You know there's nothing special...they just list that because they can. Shallows out the pool and does the work for them.

groundtoflightdeck · Post by **groundtoflightdeck** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:43 am

They posted for a King Air captain a while ago, maybe the guy they hired didn't like the sched of a medivac pilot. I know a few guys who probably would not like it. In which case they would want a guy who knew what its like.

co-joe · Post by **co-joe** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 1:05 pm

Basically they're looking for someone who doesn't mind flying 2-300 hours a year and being on call all the time. Getting up at 4 am to be airborne in 25 minutes. It's not for everyone, if you're used to working all day, having an hour to flight plan and check wx, and having your nights off you may not like medevac flying.

Insert beech fag joke now...

TTail · Post by **TTail** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 1:24 pm

my buddy told me of an 800 pounder they put in a PC12 with a fork-lift once!

Co-joe is right though. On call all the time, woken up at any hour with short notice for departure, and figuring out interesting ways to get the person on the damn aircraft! Down here we get 45 minutes to show up on Medevacs. Other operators are more generous. Used to work part-time for a nice outfit that gave you "an hour to show an hour to go" rule.

JBI · Post by **JBI** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:05 pm

A job is a job is a job I guess, but most of the former Medevac guys that I know never want to do medeavcs again. I still get anxious if I hear a pager go off!

snag · Post by **snag** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:32 pm

The above mention valid reasons, mainly the ability to function on call with a pager.

I think it also has to do with stuff like aero-medical courses, and select CRM training that is required in certain provinces. You have to be able to deal with doctors, nurses, paramedics, and patients (and it's not just the patients that require heavy lifting, right JBI?). I know that some provinces (ex. Ontario) require certain imunizations/shots for all crew members. It's not a significant difference from what regular pilots do, but when the supply is so great, why not get picky?

. . · Post by **. .** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:57 pm

and the smells.....

Canus Chinookus · Post by **Canus Chinookus** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:03 pm

and the screams... but mostly the smells

co-joe · Post by **co-joe** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:50 pm

Yeah AB requires a whole host of vaccinations. Polo, tetanus/diptheria, hep, and a couple more...

BTW: Heaviest patient I ever carried was 450+ pounds. To get him in the plane the fire department came out to help, and we had to inch worm him side to side and squeeze one roll in then the other, then back and forth... Only one of his ass cheeks fit on the back board at a time!

Schlem · Post by **Schlem** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:36 pm

LJDriver wrote:my buddy told me of an 800 pounder they put in a PC12 with a fork-lift once!

If that was in Flin Flon... I did that trip but it was with a heavy duty hydraulic tail gate lift. had him secured to a pallet!

I know of another gentleman that was forked on in Nunavut.

We did a few 400 pound gents in the Learjet too.

TTail · Post by **TTail** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:16 pm

Schlem wrote:
LJDriver wrote:my buddy told me of an 800 pounder they put in a PC12 with a fork-lift once!

If that was in Flin Flon... I did that trip but it was with a heavy duty hydraulic tail gate lift. had him secured to a pallet!

I know of another gentleman that was forked on in Nunavut.

We did a few 400 pound gents in the Learjet too.

Not sure where he was but my buddy's name is Cory and I think he was out of T Bay at the time.

Cool Rythms! · Post by **Cool Rythms!** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:07 pm

I did medevac flying with Voyageur some years back. And I must say, I did'nt like it one bit. First of all, the pay was an absolute insult. Second of all, I hardly flew. Over a five month period, I only flew 50 hours, which included my initial training and PPC. I spent more time on the ground, hoping the pager would buzz. Got to know the shopping malls pretty well though ! But for those of you, who like that kind of flying, fill your boots.

Northern Flyer · Post by **Northern Flyer** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:10 pm

50 hours in five months is not the norm for medevac.

Schlem · Post by **Schlem** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:26 pm

I have averaged about 30-35 hours a month over the past 5 months with 16 or more days off per month... took some extra time off for some skiing each month this winter.

My lowest in the past year and a half is about 20 hours in 14 days to the highest of about 74 hours in 14 days.

cedar · Post by **cedar** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:43 pm

50 Hours, way to low. I just finished 27 hours in 7 days. Steady thats for sure, keeps you fresh. I would say thats the average for our guys/gals. I would love to hear from anybody else.

Cool Rythms! · Post by **Cool Rythms!** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:17 pm

That's right, you heard me correctly. 50 hrs. over five months and nothing more. The sad part, is that if I had been based in North Bay, or even Sioux Lookout, instead of Moncton, I would have done a hell of a lot more flying. Instead, I just sat around doing litterally nothing. My schedule was 14 days on, 14 days off. There were periods, where I would go an entire 14 day cycle without flying. So I decided that was enough, time to look elsewhere.

Metro2rn · Post by **Metro2rn** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:57 pm

At PAG, we do 7 days on 7 off, and expect 20-30 hours of fly time a week, airborne within 20 minutes of dispatch and no pagers, but we do have sat phones for when we are not at base and are gone fishin.... Not to mention all of the Night flying we do...

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:11 pm

Who the hell do you guys fly for?
When I was with Westex, we did a 4 day on/ 4 day off sched. 12 hours on, 12 hours off. You lived at the hangar for 12 hous then you went home.
If the patient weighs more than 350 lbs. they road transport them unless you can do something special like in a Metro.
We operated to the letter of the laws. Balanced fields, good maintenance, proper training, duty days.
I was on a medevac with TC doing a ride along during an audit. We were within 20 minutes of staying in a little jerkwater town because of a duty day expiring but the patient would be flown out with another airplane and we would have left the inspector behind.
Fortunatly, the ambulance arrived with 20 minutes to spare.
Tthe PIC has the final say. Wx is bad, we can and do refuse the trip. Near the end of the duty day? delay the trip and let the night/day crew do it.
That is how a safe operation is done.

TTail · Post by **TTail** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:52 pm

oldtimer wrote:Who the hell do you guys fly for?
When I was with Westex, we did a 4 day on/ 4 day off sched. 12 hours on, 12 hours off. You lived at the hangar for 12 hous then you went home.
If the patient weighs more than 350 lbs. they road transport them unless you can do something special like in a Metro.
We operated to the letter of the laws. Balanced fields, good maintenance, proper training, duty days.
I was on a medevac with TC doing a ride along during an audit. We were within 20 minutes of staying in a little jerkwater town because of a duty day expiring but the patient would be flown out with another airplane and we would have left the inspector behind.
Fortunatly, the ambulance arrived with 20 minutes to spare.
Tthe PIC has the final say. Wx is bad, we can and do refuse the trip. Near the end of the duty day? delay the trip and let the night/day crew do it.
That is how a safe operation is done.

Sounds like times have changed for sure! Although your final statements there hold true, well at least for me they do anyway.

oldncold · Post by **oldncold** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:58 pm

That patient that was 950 pounds, cory flew.
you got to love night flying and living on the cell or pager. the 12 is thee best medivac plane out there in terms of range payload and ease of loading the. the 200folks disagree of course but fuel burn, speed, and
avionics.

When you can load 2500 pound of jeta1 plus medic and 2crew then depart yqt into the night sky climb to 24000 ft and go to ft severn pick 2 patients go to kingston and
no worries about refueling well peace of mind eh. cant do that in a 200.

ya think thats why my buddy at bravo said they added another 12 in january.
getn back to the orginal thread othis post the companies often request
this because it takes a person with a thick skin to here the medics whine about every little thing while they are makin 40 grand more a year ?