10 Steps to an Air Ambulance Flight Crew Career

“Life Flight 3 respond. Heading three-one-zero degrees for two-six nautical miles, motor vehicle accident, multiple patients. More to follow once airborne.  Time out, two-one two-six hours.”

That’s how it starts; very mechanical, very structured… very by-the-book.

And that’s how you and your crew start.

That’s how Emergency Medical Services (EMS) works… at least in the beginning.

You play your part in the EMS play.

You follow the same script you’ve followed hundreds of times before.  All checks of the aircraft are done.   All equipment is ready to go.  You and your crew are ready to go.

And then it happens…

In an instant, everything goes to sh**!

The communications center, air traffic control and the responding ground unit all want to talk to you at the same time.  And they all have good reasons for doing so…

Sound familiar?  Ever experience a similar situation?

Of course.   Probably a situation magnified a couple dozen times depending on the day and circumstances.   But here’s the thing.  Did you ever stop and think about what causes you to manage all the variables to success over and over.   I mean, it’s not like today is your first experience with chaos, right?  You managed it on the ground truck for years, right?  It’s just what you do, right?  That’s how EMS works.

Actually, whether you realize it or not, there’s a reason you’re able to consistently hit home-runs with all those curve balls EMS throws at you.

In a word, it’s your training.  Well, okay, that’s actually three words, but you get the idea.

Training is your safety net.  Training is how you consistently manage chaos well over time.  You take a bad situation and plug the variables into a structured system that has worked for you before.  You do it so quickly that sometimes you don’t even realize you’re doing it.  And it doesn’t matter.  Because you are doing it, and it works!

So what if there was a structured way to an air ambulance flight crew career?  A sort of checklist to follow to the air ambulance job you want.  Would that be helpful?  Well, here it is.

10 Steps To A Flight Crew Career

1. Identify flight programs of interest.
2. Learn the requirements of each target program.
3. Start a self-improvement program today.
4. Get qualified.
5. Schedule the “secret interview” a.k.a. fly along or job shadow day.
6. Write a killer flight resume and cover letter.
7. Schedule a practice/mock interview with a career coach or current flight crew.
8. Do a great job on your real flight interviews.
9. Pick the right air ambulance flight program for you (not all are created equal).
10. Follow-up each interview with a personal thank you letter.

Some of the steps follow a natural order.  Other steps do not.  So don’t feel like you’re limited to doing the steps in order.  If you get stuck or frustrated with a particular step.  Take a break or work on a different step.

As always, you can let us know what you think in the comments section.

Clear skies and tailwinds,

Fly-write

If you want more help getting started with an air ambulance flight crew career, download our free “The Flight Stuff” ebook  here.