Career Fair Career Data Card – Aeromedical Helicopter Pilot
Aeromedical Helicopter Pilot
During our career fair today we connected girl scouts with professionals – this is from the series of the Career Data Card we provided:
Brief job description: The Chief pilot, supervises the other pilots at the company and provides their yearly training. They work directly with the government (FAA) to ensure that the company and pilots are following rules and regulations. Aeromedical helicopter pilots transport sick and injured people to hospitals. Often, the helicopter lands on the highway at the scene of a car accident, or flies to very rural areas to pick up a patient and take them to a hospital in a big city.
Skills needed: Good hand eye coordination, a high level of awareness to one’s surroundings (called situational awareness), excellent computer skills, do basic math in one’s head under pressure, ability to read a map.
Education needed: High school diploma, but a college degree is preferred.
Fun fact about my job: the word helicopter comes from two Greek words, Helix (spiral) and Pteron (wing). Also women only make up around 5% of professional pilots.
Favorite thing about my job: The feeling of being at the controls of an aircraft is unlike anything else, everyday has a new a different challenge.
Similar jobs or jobs I work with everyday: There are many jobs for helicopter pilots: flying for the News, the military, Heli-skiing, tours in Hawaii, offshore to oil rigs, firefighting, and logging. Emergency Medical Helicopter pilots work closely with flight nurses and paramedics, and Air Traffic controllers.