"Interesting" NY Times Article

Interesting indeed.

Up here in Alberta Canada, we have STARS Air Ambulance, operated by
the government ( I presume ). They run a yearly lottery to raise
additional funds, and the lottery always sells out within weeks.

It is highly thought of by the general population and has proven its
worth more times than could be counted.

Based in our two largest cities, Calgary in the South, Edmonton in the
North, they cover a Province whose size is larger than Texas with four
BK-117 twin engine machines.

http://www.stars.ca/what_we_do/fleet.asp

Although there are private air ambulances operating fix wing jets
and turboprops, to the best of my knowledge there are no private
helicopter air ambulances in Alberta, and possibly none in Western
Canada, or all of Canada.

My fellow Canadians can correct me if I am wrong on that.

Well Kevin I don't know if there is a future in the air abulance field
for you...... At a minimun you probably have about 1450 more hours
to go before some of the operators would give you a look.

And getting those 1450 more hours is always the problem.

Interesting to note that the article mentions the looming possibility
of a helicopter pilot shortage.

For anyone interested in helicopters as a flying career the problem
always seems to be the high number or hours required before the
industry will look at you and the lousy pay scale once you have clawed
your way into a seat....... Correct me if I am wrong on those two
points.