Life Guard

Pilotforhire587

Lycra Man
Hey Guys and Gals,
So I landed a contract pilot job a few weeks back doing some life guard flying, Its a rewarding job and I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I am helping to save lives. I have one small problem though. I flight instruct during the day and since most of the life guard flights are on an on call basis and at night I can't always get a good night sleep or set a steady sleep schedule. Just wondering if anyone had some advice as to help staying awake on the end of the long nights?
 
Its a rewarding job and I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I am helping to save lives.

No advice about the sleep schedule but I will give you some (unsolicited) advice about Med flying.

Your patient is ALWAYS already dead. If you can get them there alive... great. If not, oh well. They were dead when they got on the plane. That way you NEVER push a flight that shouldn't go just because it will save somebody's life.
 
The most important thing that you can do is learn when to turn down a flight, and feel good about doing so.
 
Your patient is ALWAYS already dead. If you can get them there alive... great. If not, oh well. They were dead when they got on the plane. That way you NEVER push a flight that shouldn't go just because it will save somebody's life.

hmm, ive been doing air ambulance for about 6 months now and so far, that has not been the case. Some patients have been very sick, but none were on the brink of death. it could happen i guess... but most of the time if youre flying fixed wing air ambulance, the patient has already been stabilized and is merely moving to another hospital for whatever reason -OR- is terminally ill and is going home to die.

At least thats been my experience. Weve never had a situation where we had to get somebody somewhere in x amount of minutes/hours or they will die.

Now something like Med-Evac where you haul trauma patients from the scene of an accident (which is mostly helicopters)sounds more like what you are describing.
 
hmm, ive been doing air ambulance for about 6 months now and so far, that has not been the case. Some patients have been very sick, but none were on the brink of death. it could happen i guess... but most of the time if youre flying fixed wing air ambulance, the patient has already been stabilized and is merely moving to another hospital for whatever reason -OR- is terminally ill and is going home to die.

At least thats been my experience. Weve never had a situation where we had to get somebody somewhere in x amount of minutes/hours or they will die.

Now something like Med-Evac where you haul trauma patients from the scene of an accident (which is mostly helicopters)sounds more like what you are describing.

I think Bob's using a metaphor that by thinking that your patient is already dead, you won't push a bad situation or be self-pressured to. And this could easily apply to fixed as well as rotary wing medevac, though obviously rotary has more of the situations where this would literally apply.
 
ahh... makes sense now, and I agree completely. I was thinking it was kind of an odd statement from a guy like Bob! lol
 
I think it is just a bizarre thing to say - as a professional pilot shouldn't it make no difference, your job is just to fly the plane safely and not worry about whats going on in the back.
 
I think it is just a bizarre thing to say - as a professional pilot shouldn't it make no difference, your job is just to fly the plane safely and not worry about whats going on in the back.

I meant what Mike said. The patient is of absolutly no concern to you.

And Ian, (how come nobody calls you lian any more?) you're right... for a professional pilot it shouldn't matter what is going on in the back. But what happens when the terrified parent (or spouse or child) of the patient is riding along and watching them potentially die because you decide the weather is too bad or the plane is too broken to go.

It is a very easy decision to make, but it can be one of the hardest ones to verbalize.
 
Hey Guys and Gals,
So I landed a contract pilot job a few weeks back doing some life guard flying, Its a rewarding job and I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I am helping to save lives. I have one small problem though. I flight instruct during the day and since most of the life guard flights are on an on call basis and at night I can't always get a good night sleep or set a steady sleep schedule. Just wondering if anyone had some advice as to help staying awake on the end of the long nights?

Where are you flying out of? Just curious, I'm a "life guard" vet from Nahville.


Rich
 
I meant what Mike said. The patient is of absolutly no concern to you.

And Ian, (how come nobody calls you lian any more?) you're right... for a professional pilot it shouldn't matter what is going on in the back. But what happens when the terrified parent (or spouse or child) of the patient is riding along and watching them potentially die because you decide the weather is too bad or the plane is too broken to go.

It is a very easy decision to make, but it can be one of the hardest ones to verbalize.

absolutely. I can see making a "no-go" decision as a lifeguard flight having unique challenges not normally faced by airline or charter pilots. The criteria to go or not are obviously the same, but the external pressure to make the flight happen can be slightly higher.
 
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