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Hi, my name is Tilda.

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I’m a HEMS pilot. Helicopter, emergency

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medical services pilot, and I fly for Devon Air Ambulance.

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My job involves flying a helicopter

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in order to get the critical care team, which consists of either

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two paramedics and a critical care doctor or just two paramedics to an incident.

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We are literally bringing A&E to the scene.

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So it’s a 999 call out

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where they say they need a doctor or critical care paramedic.

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It’s a lot more service than the land ambulance can provide,

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and we carry a lot more specialist equipment

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that you wouldn’t be able to afford to put on every land ambulance but you could afford to put

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perhaps on two helicopters.

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The best bit is when it’s a happy ending and that you do save a life

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and you’ve really made a difference.

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Obviously, when it’s not a successful outcome,

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it’s very difficult.

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Then you really feel for the people that are left behind.

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So I find, yeah, that can be very, quite emotional.

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But so I’ve learned to become detached from it.

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So you have to be quite

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strong about it and just switch off.

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It all started when I was about 13 and we had a careers form that came around school and said,

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What do you want to be when you leave school?

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And so I said either a stunt woman, a secret agent,

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an astronaut or pilot, and the pilot was the easier option.

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So I did actually write to the Air Force

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when I was about that age because I knew they didn’t

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let women fly in the military – I said ‘why don’t you let me fly?’

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And they said, Well, you never know.

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Perhaps by the time you’re old enough, things might have changed.

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And they did.

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So I actually started flying when I was at university.

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I joined the University Air Squadron

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which is run by the Air Force and they teach you how to fly.

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And then I joined from there.

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I’d say that three strong points that you need to become a HEMS

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pilot would be to be flexible, to be able to put up with

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rapid planning and depending on the weather, depending

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on the type of the incident where you need to go, who you’re carrying.

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Be fairly practical and be willing to get your hands dirty,

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often landing in really muddy fields,

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having to help move the patient to and out of the aircraft,

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and also be able to stay emotionally detached.

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Because obviously you do get to meet

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the patient’s family or relatives quite often.