Original Message

EMS folks are paid to be ready, and paid well to have the conviction to say NO when necessary.  

To which I add that a GOOD HEMS pilot has a realistic, usable backup plan in place at all times. The plan may be as simple as deciding to abort the flight to the easiest rendezevous with ground transport or someplace where the crew can readily be returned to base and the helo recovered when weather permits.

Weather is what you see out the window and that is constantly changing. What you see is what you got, not the latest observations (history) or the forecasts (scientific wild arse guesses).

That is where the experience that seniority brings and extensive local area knowledge pays for itself.

A word for all us old goobers- just because you did it before doesn't mean you're gonna be successful again. When it's as bad as you've seen it before, don't push on because you've seen it get better in a short distance. I suspect that's the reason experienced HEMS guys have such surprising accident rates.... I followed another pilot who insisted 100 and a half-mile was flyable when our mins were 300 and 2. He made it and I aborted. That's Russian Roulette, the hammer may snap on an empty cylinder or it may go bang when you fly into something without adequate response time and limited options if you did respond.