We had Maria on our podcast in 2022. She may have been the first female EMS pilot in Pittsburgh, but she sees herself as more than that! Maria was based at M-4. On this podcast, she reflects on her time at STAT MedEvac, the friends she made and how it impacted her life in a positive way.
Listen to the podcast or read her full interview here.
Maria:I ‘m Maria Mancano, a former STAT medevac pilot. I was stationed in Oregon flying, logging support for Columbia Helicopters, and my father asked if there was a way that I could get work closer to home.
I’m Maria Mancano, a former STAT medevac pilot. My tour duty at stat was between the years of 1993 and 1999. So in order to become an EMS helicopter pilot, the flight hour requirements and technical experience can vary by program, but generally it’s something like 2,500 hours, pilot and command time, a thousand hours of turbine time 200 hours of cross-country time, 500 hours of nighttime. It’s program specific. Some programs may require IFR certification or night vision goggles. Previous EMS experience experience in, in particular make and model aircrafts like an EC 1 45 or you know, Bell 212. Some programs might require that you have specialized experience at high altitude or mountain flying experience. Other experience that’s helpful but not, is not really addressed is, it really helps to be a good Samaritan. It really helps that you have the kind of character that wants to help people. That’s my opinion. I’m just throwing it out there for you.
A lot of pilots get their flight experience through the military. My journey was different. I’m a civilian trained pilot, and so I acquired my flight hours by giving flight instruction initially. A lot of the hours that I accrued were by giving flight instruction to other people. And then I transitioned into the natural resource flying area, which is wildland firefighting construction, logging, support, some forestry work, and that’s how I accrued the number of hours to qualify to be an EMS pilot.
The thing that motivated me to become a helicopter pilot, as far as role models, there weren’t a lot of women role models back in the day, and it’s almost alarming to think that in 1993, there weren’t that many women pilots outside of military pilots who were flying in commercial industry at the time. The thing that was the, the modus for me to fly was, it was a prestigious job. It was exciting, and it offered access to a lot of really beautiful remote locations. Years later, it was almost like a subconscious revelation. My father had pursued flying back in the forties in airplanes, and he did solo and had to discontinue because of the cost of flying and the depression. So if that was an impetus for me to fly, it was really subconscious and something that I didn’t even address until later on.
The thing that led me to pursue a career with STAT MedEvac was the fact that my mother was ill. And maybe a lot of you know or don’t know that my family is from the Ohio Valley area, and I was stationed in Oregon flying, logging support for Columbia Helicopters. And my father asked if there was a way that I could get work closer to home. So on Christmas Eve in 1992, I drove up to Pittsburgh, to Allegheny County and spoke with John McCarthy, who was a pilot at the time for STAT MedEvac. And he filled me in on the possibilities of working with stat, the different aircraft that they offered. They were being supported by Corporate Jets, of course. And so up until that time, I’d never considered EMS, but there was an opportunity and it was an opportunity to be closer to home and to be able to help out my family. And so I applied and waited until I got the call from Corporate Jets.
I was the first EMS pilot in Pittsburgh in 1993, and it was rather shocking revelation to find out that I was the first female pilot because if you fast forward to today, there are so many women involved in aviation compared to that time, it’s uncanny really to think that it was a struggle to get involved in the field of EMS. I wasn’t thinking about any proverbial glass ceilings. I mean, aviation is a very competitive field, and I was determined to succeed as a helicopter pilot today. There’s, there’s so many women in the field, and that is like a major change. There is not the same type of biases, for lack of a better word. And I think that people recognize that women have a lot to offer in the field, and there isn’t a, there is a lot more help. And by help, I mean people are really excited about women succeeding in aviation.
And so they mentor them and they, they actively mentor them and they actively recruit women in the field today compared to 1993. Back then, seriously, there were some times when you would not get any help. You were like sort of left on to your own devices. I mean, in the military, men come fully formed as pilots, women too. They have a different program, but in the civilian world, and that was really unusual. Corporate Jets was 99%, 99.9% military. So it wasn’t only the fact that I was the first woman, I was a civilian pilot. And that was pretty much unheard of. And, you know, it was, it was herb Scut who was very open-minded and corporate jets was very open-minded.
It’s not as important for me to have been the only female EMS pilot in Pittsburgh, all, although that is, you know, a nice, the real significance for me was coming from a small town, you know in Fens Beach, West Virginia, you know, graduated Brook High, made my family and friends and my community so proud. They treat me like a celebrity when I’m home. And that is gratifying on so many levels. It’s a shared sense of accomplishment, and it’s the same way I feel about Stat. I’m so proud to be a part of the STAT program. I wasn’t in on the entry level STAT 1, but pretty close. You know, I came in when STAT MedEvac 4 got established, and I just am so proud of my tenure there. And I’m currently retired two years from federal service, and I’ve had a lot of different tours of duty during my career of 37 years of flying. And my favorite tour was with the Stat MedEvac crew. And I to this day have such fond memories and great ties because I never experienced such great camaraderie crews. We looked after each other. We, we were, we had each other’s best interest in mind. We supported each other. Everyone at Stat is the ultimate professional in their fields, both medical and aeronautical. And it’s just a real pleasure to have worked for STAT MedEvac.
Rachael: And now we get to have you just simply choose a number between one and three.
Maria: Okay, I’ll choose number two.
Rachael: It’s usually lucky number three, but two’s a good one. Â Cause we already asked, you actually did number three, so this was perfect. Number two is, if you would’ve chosen another career, what would it have been?
Maria: I would wanna be a barista because I have such an addiction to espresso. So, you know, that would be perfect for me. Yeah, I’d be a, I’d be a barista. I say that all the time.
I love my crew from STAT. It’s bound us together in, in a way that’s really hard to, to explain to people. But if you’ve ever been in, in those situations it reminds me of when I went to Antarctica and we were doing a survival school and we had to rely on each other for, you know, shelter and water and everything. And it just, it just almost brings tears to your eyes to have those kinds of connections with other humans stat. That’s what my STAT family is like to me.