Communications Center

Communications Specialist Requirements

Each Life Air Communications Specialist receives 40 hours of initial training, and 90 days on the job training with qualified personnel before advancement.

Telecommunications training consists of phone operations, transferring calls, phone to radio patching, and conference calling.

Radio training consists of a brief history of radio, explanation of how radio works, radio waves, types of radio systems, phone patching, and radio etiquette.

In depth aviation weather training starting with weather formation, how weather affects aviation decisions based on safety and aircraft performance. The Communication Specialists are also trained to interpret aviation METARs (aviation routine weather report). They also receive training to interpret weather radar information.

Aircraft tracking is taught to each Communication Specialist so they are able to interpret latitude and longitude coordinates to be able to pinpoint the track of an aircraft on a map in real time. They are also taught to operate computer software to dispatch and visually watch over each Life Air aircraft anytime it is operational.

Computer training consists of CAD (computer aided dispatch) Computer weather programs and computer tracking programs.