An aviation company I would possibly be interested would be
survival flight. As a paramedic, which is a job that I really love, it would be
interesting to me to be able to combine the two fields. As a paramedic, there
comes a certain satisfaction with helping people: to see them on their worst
days and know you can make a difference. As a pilot I would not only love
the physical act of what I am doing, but knowing that I a bigger aspect of a
much more critical patient. I have worked with companies that I have
brought the ambulance to an airport to meet with a plane or helicopter and have
seen how critical these patients can be and--had it not been for the air
transport--the patient may not have made it. If I could be a pilot and
know that I helped make that difference with something I truly love going. It would be the combination of the best of
both worlds for me.
The description of survival flight is a
little different. The fixed wings tend to be on a more set schedule while
helicopter pilots tend to be more of the "on scene" personnel. The
primary focus for the pilot, is, of course, the safety of the flight and all on
board. That is also where some of the dangers come in. Through my
paramedic training, the first thing they drill into. Your head over and over
and over and over is called "scene safety". That is, if for whatever
reasons if the scene is not safe, do not try to help the patient. If the
patient is in a car with live telephone wires over it, touching the car to get
the patient out is only going to hurt the paramedic and what good would that do
for anyone? Bearing that in mind from an aviation standpoint, a pilot may sometimes
think of hone important of "helping" the patient before safety of the
aircraft.
That presents itself as a safety and liability
issue. These are generally mitigated in
by a separation of the aviation and the EMS personnel. Most Air Ambulance companies are two combines
combined. Survival Flight employs the
paramedics and nurses through University of Michigan while the pilots and everything
else aviation related are supplied by Pentastar. This separation tried to help eliminate that
sense of “helping” While going through my UMBC training for my Critical Care
Paramedic training we discussed the safety features in place for flight transportation. A rule that Survival Flight used was “The
rule of three.” That is, there were
three people who had to agree to the flight.
If a single person said “No” the flight would not take place. The pilot had to agree, the flight medical
staff had to agree and the patient’s primary physician had to agree. On the aviation standpoint, the person who
had given that lecture to my class had told a story of the flight crew going
out with the pilot while he prepared his pre-flight check. The nurse had noticed a small bit of ice on
the fence going around the airport hanger.
She brought it to the attention of the pilot. The pilot had advised the conditions were
fine for their flight, but the nurse was still uncomfortable with it, so the
flight did not take place and the paitnet would be transported another
day. Safety measures in place like this
are something that I would like to look for in a company.
Every one who has a job has some level of
professionalism. Professionalism sounds
like a very astute word, but, really, to be a professional just means to be
paid for something. It implies some sort
of training that makes a person qualified to performed—and be paid
for—performing a task One of the ways
that professionalism was lacked in this accident was due to the PIC changing
the weight of the plane to get it “approved” for takeoff. That demonstrates a lack of professionalism
because it shows the lack of training—or ignorance of that training—to perform
the job he was paid to do.
Two things that I would do personally if I
were to ever get this job is to just keep the patient in mind. Safety is important for the patient. This job would take “scene safety” t a whole
new level. And if all aspects of the
flight ae not safe, no help can be brought to the patient and harm may come to
the crew. I would also try to keep a
very positive attitude. When it comes to
helping others, a positive attitude goes a long way. As a pilot, I would want tha patient—and their
families—to know that they are in safe hand with me flying the plane. A positive, confident attitude would help to exude
that.
