CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Apples and Oranges
Terry Peed | Contributing Author
I first wrote this article 15 years ago for a college theme paper. I ran across it the other day, and after reading it again I thought it could use some updating. I also thought it might be interesting to Helicopter Maintenance magazine readers who are contemplating their future careers. There are many career paths in this industry and many types of helicopter mechanics with just as many missions. There are mechanic requirements for maintaining EMS helicopters, law enforcement, electronic news gathering (ENG), fire fighting, off-shore oil, corporate, sight-seeing tours and even helicopter rides at fairs. OEMs, operators, repair stations, hospitals and law enforcement agencies all over the country employ most helicopter mechanics. Most of my career has been with EMS helicopters as a field base mechanic at hospitals or working in a repair station for an EMS operator. I can’t really talk about the other types with any first-hand knowledge but I can talk about my experience working in EMS. With any job — and helicopter emergency medical
services (HEMS) is no exception — there are pros and cons that go along with the job. For me, I can’t think of any other field that I would rather work in than HEMS. I have moved on from being a field base mechanic, but I still work with
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HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com October | November 2015
these people and do what I can to support hospital HEMS operators. Things have changed since I was out there and I hope you don’t mind an old man reminiscing. There might be a few “when I was a field mechanic I had to walk five miles to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways” stories, but forgive me. My intent is to give you some comparison as to how the EMS industry is improving and trying to make it safer for all. This is not to say that it is going to be easier now than when I worked in it, but times do change and so do responsibilities.
My focus in this article is going to be on the differences
between field base mechanics and repair station hangar mechanics in the EMS industry. Field mechanics and hangar mechanics are as different as apples and oranges. This is not to say that apples can’t become oranges or vice versa if the need should arise. A mechanics is paid to be either an apple or an orange. It’s hard to be both. Enough of the analogies. I would like to give you the
pros and cons of each type mechanic and let you decide for yourself which type would be more suited for your career. I would also like to try to help both of these type mechanics understand each other’s job better.
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