Emergency Medical Helicopter Pilot Job

Hello, I'm Andy. I hope you're well. I hope you are doing something good too. We're here with Jeff Haranzi. Jeff is an

emergency

medical

services

helicopter

pilot

and Jeff will explain everything it takes to become a

helicopter

pilot

. The ups and downs of the job, the ins and outs, are downright challenging and we're just starting out right now, so as an ems helicopter pilot our primary job is transporting critical care patients, so it may be from the scene of an accident. car on a highway. being a motorcyclist in the middle of the desert recreating it could be a mountain biker could be a motorcycle could be basically anyone and we even do flights from small hospitals and transfer them to facilities with a higher level of care, etc.

On a day-to-day basis, work can mean many things on board. I am the only pilot. Normally we also have two

medical

staff members who ride behind me and provide patient care, but I'm the only pilot, so I'm up there. Flying solo as the only pilot on board my primary responsibility is to operate the aircraft safely, as I mentioned you know we are in the business of transporting sick or injured people however I am supposed to focus solely on flying the aircraft . My day to day is to start work, prepare the aircraft for pre-checks and prepare it for takeoff, make sure everything looks good for a safer flight.

I constantly check the weather and stay ahead if we have any weather systems moving in, etc. when we receive our flight request. You should be ready to go and it's my job to determine whether or not we can make that flight safely, so that when the request comes in, I'll be the first to receive the first per se right of refusal. We go up in the air, I'm the one who navigates properly to the place where we're going to pick up our patient and then I'm the one who navigates to the hospital, so as I mentioned before, my job is to fly the helicopter.

I have no medical training I am not providing medical care on board while I am flying, they want me to focus solely on the flight of the plane now, once we land at the hospital it is my job to make sure the plane is ready to fly. secondary flight, so I'm going to refuel the plane, you know, service the oxygen as needed and make sure everything works as needed if we get a second flight, plus I help the crew members get the patient on the stretcher. to the hospital, you know, carrying their bags, helping them organize some of their medical equipment if necessary, but as I said before, the main function of my job is to make sure the plane is ready for the next flight and then operate that plane in a safe manner, so a typical day for me as an ems helicopter pilot is going into work.

I do a brief briefing with the departing pilot, check the weather, check in with our dispatch center, brief them on our crew configuration for the day, and then head out. there and I pre-flight the plane to make sure everything looks good mechanically, make sure we have fuel and that everything is ready to go in case we get a flight request. Yes, we could get a request at any time, so I have to do it. I kind of stay ahead of the curve in that sense, knowing what the weather conditions are, knowing the conditions of the aircraft, and basically knowing if I'm going to be able to make a flight safely, so if we get a request, usually our dispatch center notifies it. we attenuate much like a fire station or an ambulance attenuates by notifying us where the request is coming from when the request comes out we only know where it is we don't know exactly what it is we don't know the patient's condition they don't want me to base my decision on it in the patient's condition, they just want me to make my decision on the location and if I can make that flight safely, we do a quick walk.

I make sure the plane is suitable for flying and we all get on board as the pilot. I turn on the plane, get everything up and running, and then once we take off, I type in the coordinates of the location we're headed to and we head in that direction. The entire time I am in contact with our dispatch center, they keep us informed of any changes in the patient's conditions or if they want us to divert to an alternative location, so we are always in contact with our dispatch center. I am the one who does all the air traffic communications with air traffic control, other aircraft, as well as our communications center, once we arrive at our location, if it happens to be on the scene, such as on a highway or in the interior of the country, I am the one to contact any units that may be on the ground, if there are no units on the ground, it is up to us to respond as the only ones to respond so that we can secure our own landing zones and sometimes we have to land a little further away. from where the patient is, if they are in a place where we cannot land and once we determine that it is safe, we go ahead and go in and land.

I usually stay on the plane and a lot of times we don't even do it. we shut down the plane we keep everything running the crew will come out they will care for the patient they will provide whatever medical care is necessary and if it is appropriate for us to transfer the patient we load the helicopter with the patient and take them to the nearest appropriate medical facility so as a pilot, my job is to determine the best flight path, you know if there will be any weather affecting our flight to that facility etc etc etc so the type of person who would be good as an ems helicopter pilot is someone who is willing to working with the team now, although I am the only pilot on board, I am constantly interacting with my crewmates and as a crew we are determining that the flight can be made. safely, so even though I'm the only one at the actual controls, we continue to interact throughout the flight, even once we have a patient on board, you know I will keep them informed of changes in weather conditions, whether or not, We need to detour as a big part of my job is checking the weather, checking the plane and being ahead to know if a flight can be done safely.

This job really suits someone who is big in aviation. We're all aviation fans, you know. Constantly reading about helicopter stories, you know, we are constantly reading about our own airplanes, increasing our knowledge, so the willingness to learn and just enjoy aviation is also a big part of this career, so this job is unique because We are in small spaces. with people who may be sick or injured, so if you get a little dizzy, don't like seeing blood, and just don't want to be around sick or injured people, it's probably not even the job for you. Even though I don't provide any medical care, the patient is right next to me, so I see what's going on.

I see my career members providing that care, so if I can't handle that emotionally or just don't want to see it, it's probably not the job for someone, so someone who wouldn't be a good ems pilot is someone who wouldn't. You can deal with a lot of stress, we're always thinking on our feet, thinking on our toes, making very quick decisions that can have a big impact pretty quickly, especially if we make the wrong decision, so dealing with stress is a great part of the work. Additionally, we deal with many different personalities of our crew members, so having the ability to interact with people of diverse personalities is very important.

In this job, also being able to receive instructions from our dispatch center crew members and first responders who may not necessarily be pilots but who may have questions or concerns and be able to address them appropriately is a big part of the job, so If you can't receive information or instructions from people, it probably won't be the best job for you, so believe it or not, you don't necessarily need to have a four-year college degree to be a pilot. Being a pilot is very similar to learning a trade in flight schools, almost like a vocational school where you get certain levels of certification as you advance in experience, so a lot of people think that you need to go to college to be a pilot and that Not always true, there are many routes one can take to obtain the certifications and experience necessary to become a pilot.

One of the most common routes is to go through the army. It usually takes one to two years of relatively consistent training to get to the point where you can. Getting a Job as a Pilot The various routes one could take to become a pilot are the military route, one can go to a civilian flight school which is very similar to a trade school and there are many college programs that also have a degree. of four years as well as offering flight training, so those are three routes one can take to potentially become a commercial pilot, so I started flying just for fun.

At first I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue a career. but it seemed interesting, it seemed like an adventure, so first I learned to fly airplanes, believe it or not, and after I got my private license to fly airplanes, I always saw the helicopters flying around, which piqued my interest and I thought, you know what? What will I give you? It was an opportunity and I fell in love with flying helicopters so I progressed all my qualifications in both airplanes and helicopters in case I needed a job that required flying airplanes as well but I never actually worked as a commercial airplane pilot although I am certified to do it.

I was lucky enough to get a job as a helicopter flight instructor as soon as I completed all my helicopter qualifications for the first two years of my career. I also flew on charter tours and took a lot of aerial photography afterwards. I was lucky enough to get a job flying helicopter tours in the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas while I was doing it, I also started flying heliskein operations in Colorado and Alaska in the winter months and then I decided I wanted to settle down and have a job that It was a little more stable so I started flying ems in Arizona, I did that for a couple of years and then I moved to the Lake Tahoe area and I've been flying ems here for almost six years so it's been a lot of fun, I've Seen many places by plane all over the country, flown from California to Alaska several times and it has been amazing.

I found out that at the Grand Canyon their entry level position was about 65k a year but some of the higher paying tour operators pay their pilots pretty well and it wasn't that hard to make six figures a year now as a helicopter pilot air medic once again your salary will vary quite a bit depending on your location, areas with a higher cost of living will have incentives and pay their pilots more than areas with a lower cost of living, so once again, Your entry level ems pilot will probably start around the 80k range, but you can easily make over a hundred thousand dollars, even 150k a year, if we're in the right place, so besides flying, what we can do in a of the most beautiful areas in the country, helping people is a great reward that comes with doing this job.

As I mentioned before, we went out there. We respond to people who are very sick or very injured and ideally put them in a situation where they can recover. Enter the hospital as quickly as possible, although I do not provide any type of medical attention. It's definitely rewarding at the end of the day to know. that I took them to the hospital safe and sound