All you “25 years” HEMS fellas  

thinking but stretch your research back to the seventies when helicopter pilots were plentiful and paid a wage that wouldn't come close to supporting a small family.  Obviously I was one of them.  Things improved but not flying for operators, had to go corporate.  In today's dollars salaries then were in the 300 - 450k range.  Yeup, fact!  Moral of the story is it's all about purchasing power which has eroded significantly in the last 30 years even in the corporate sector.