Expert: Ismar Avdic, Eng. - 9/12/2007

Question
Hi. my name is C.J.Easter. I am 18years old. I want to go to a civilian flight school so i can reach my goal as a ems air evac pilot. I know it takes a lot of flight hours to do this. I am scared if i pay all that money for flight school I my not get a job flying after I am done so, I can build up my flight hours. Is it hard getting a job after flight school and how do I get one. Every one keeps discouraging       me because i have not been in the military. They say my dream is far fetched. could you give me some advice, and your honest opinion on what I should do.THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

Answer
Hi CJ,
I have met manu air med evac pilots and I know the their "drill" very well. Air Med evac pilots (airplane) are hired directly with Commercial license and Instrument rating, and usually with about 1500 hrs total flight time. They are payed from 40-60K per year and they will be on-call and live with pager. Again, it is not that hard to get job as an air med evac pilot, however they do have higher hiring minimums because they are operating in any kind of weather environment and usually single pilot operation that is most demanding, and also exposed very tight flight schedules. That combination requires that pilot have to know his job and know his course of action well ahead of time. Do not be discouraged with different stories that you hear about military and such. In USA all air med evac pilots are hired worked in civilian world as a pilots, instructors and such. You have to have dedication and lot of patiency to get chance to get hired as an air med evac pilot.

Good Luck
Ismar