Air ambulance training offer with only possibility of employment?

deadstick said:
For some reason I thought you were a platypus pilot.
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He is! I've been in the "135 in a box" sim, too. You guys are such whiners! It's just like flying a plane for like 95% of the time! I admit the other 5% had me uh a bit stymied, but honestly...

3ow6p0.jpg


;)
 
Personally I would say walk but I'm not in your shoes... I don't know what your total time is, what you want to do with your life, etc... if you think this is a good opportunity then have at it but I get the willies just thinking about spending time, money, and more time training for a company that "might" hire me within 180 days. 10% pass rate? That is a company training (or lack thereof) issue... I see too many red flags popping up to consider this a worthwhile opportunity for anyone but you are a big boy/girl and you can make your own decision. Best of luck!
 
10% pass rate is definitely low and of everything mentioned here the biggest red flag for me. For a time at my commuter we had a 20% pass rate, and that was hiring experienced guys. That was not the norm though, far from it.

If you had nothing to do, without the 10% note, I would've jumped on it. Maybe ask them to clarify the pass rate, what are people failing for, have they rejiggered their training, etc. I can't remember how long your stay would be, but even at $30/night for a hotel, it's $900, to get 1 guy they are saying they will hire 10, that is $9000 in hotel costs alone to hire one pilot, just doesn't add up.

Pay at my commuter is $2k per month while in training, plus hotel, plus sim, company probably has $15k into a newhire when they finally finish up in two months up thru OE. I agree with the above, most companies don't just put money into people they don't plan on hiring.
 
I'm definitely (still) not saying "sounds great! Jump in!" But those 10% pass rates should be taken with a grain of salt at times. At FLX they'd tell you that half the class washed out of indoc (which was true)...but they wouldn't tell you that it was for not having any idea of how to fly to just a basic instrument standard, not bringing required documents, partying and not studying at all, etc etc etc. It sounded a lot more daunting than it wound up being.
 
Also just wanted to say air ambulance looks like a good pilot job. I worked at a school that had a charter department and they did a lot of AA in their KA's and smaller Lears out of Teterboro. Not sure what a normal month is like for those guys, would be interested in reading a writeup or two. Also wondered about pay and how much you work (I'm sure it varies where you are, in NYC lots of people died every night...).
 
deadstick said:
For some reason I thought you were a platypus pilot.
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I thought that too when I got hired, but Methods is a helicopter company that just happens to have some airplanes. Every pilot spends some time in the EC135 sim/AATD they have there in Denver. The fact that you don't fly helicopters is beside the point!
 
Boris Badenov said:
He is! I've been in the "135 in a box" sim, too. You guys are such whiners! It's just like flying a plane for like 95% of the time! I admit the other 5% had me uh a bit stymied, but honestly...

3ow6p0.jpg


;)
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Seriously. So easy peasy. I could get in one of those things, we'd just have to make every landing a running landing and we'd be fine! Might go through a bunch of skids but hey, the price of progress!
 
Jherny said:
To sum it up in his last email he said he filled the current positions but in his experience about 10% of hires make it through training and check ride and they will very likely need immediate hires... So I guess what they are trying to do is get you all trained up in the same class and have you as back up for the drop outs without offering you the job!?
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Hell naw!
Your gut feeling was right.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Seriously. So easy peasy. I could get in one of those things, we'd just have to make every landing a running landing and we'd be fine! Might go through a bunch of skids but hey, the price of progress!
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When helicopter pilots are talkin' about LTE, they ain't discussin' cell service. Mmmmkay? ;)

This is turning into the Ft Pierce thread on that other board. I'm just as guilty for the drift.

Back on point, one guy who left Lifeteam a couple of years ago enjoyed the place. It was challenging at times and the viability of the company was in question*, but the crews were good. I know another who, more recently didn't have a good experience there as one of the "captain-qualified first officers." It sucks they work the f/o's 10/5 when the captains do 7/7. I think they now require everybody to live within an hour or two of the base. If you're not doing anything now, heck why not.

Now let's talk building experience vs. hours. F/O of a C90? Goto page 3, 3rd paragraph, last sentence:

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...009/nichols - (2009) legal interpretation.pdf

Best of luck with your decision.
 
deadstick said:
When helicopter pilots are talkin' about LTE, they ain't discussin' cell service. Mmmmkay? ;)
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Nice... Ya, no big deal! Pull up, houses get smaller, push down, they get bigger. Never in the red, allways in the green. Wish someone told me 8000hrs back that all my landings could be Run-ons..
 
I know there's a company here in Alaska that's looking for KA200 FO's. There's some guys around here who know far more about it than me, though. Definitely not going to get jacked around with all the jive turkey you be talking 'bout hurr.

BUT... you will most likely need to come up here to get the job. They like to have coffee up here. For an hour or so. To see if they like you.
 
GX said:
I know there's a company here in Alaska that's looking for KA200 FO's. There's some guys around here who know far more about it than me, though. Definitely not going to get jacked around with all the jive turkey you be talking 'bout hurr.

BUT... you will most likely need to come up here to get the job. They like to have coffee up here. For an hour or so. To see if they like you.
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We are, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got 3000+++ TT. Ya, for king air FO. Problem is there's mins from the client for the PIC, and they want people that can upgrade. At 300ish hours a year (Air ambo is a terrible time building job), it'd take you 6 years to upgrade from 135 mins.

The other guys look pretty often to, but they're usually pretty up front about the FO pretty much not having a chance in hell of ever upgrading.
 
I worked for LT a few years back, all in all it was a good experience. But, they had a base in my hometown so it was perfect for me. Most of the crews are great, the planes aren't really questionable, and they follow the rules which is GREAT. I only left because the pay was low and I wasn't flying as much as I needed to, I was very low time at that point. I hope this points you in the right direction. Feel free to PM me and I'll feed you more info if needed.
 
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