Yellowknife (Aug 20/03) - Several times a week, Brett Harris is jarred from his sleep in the middle of the night by a ringing cell phone.

Forty- five minutes later, he's cruising at an altitude of 25,000 feet on his way to some of the most remote communities in the North.

This is the life of a medevac pilot.

"It can be a challenge getting used to the schedule," said Harris, who has been flying medevacs at Air Tindi for the last four years.

"You have to be able to get up and clear your head pretty quickly."

Harris, like the 15 other medevac pilots at Air Tindi, works on a rotating shift schedule. He spends 12 straight days on call followed by four days off.

During those 12 days he could be called into air at any time.

"There's nothing typical about being an medevac pilot," said Harris.

"You can go three or four days without working or fly four days in a row. It's extremely variable."

When Harris does get the call, he typically has to be up and out of the house within a few minutes.

He's greeted by a weather report when he arrives at the Air Tindi base, which he uses to draw up a flight plan.

"Sometimes that can be hard at 3 a.m.," he joked.

Once the flight plan is confirmed and the King Air 200 fully fuelled, Harris takes off.

Harris is joined on the plane by a co-pilot and one or two flight nurses who look after the patient.

The doctor-patient privilege is rigidly enforced, so Harris doesn't usually even know why a patient is being transported.

In fact, Harris said he would rather not know what's going on in the back of the plane while he's piloting.

"You need to concentrate on flying, just like it was any other plane," he said.

"It doesn't do any good to worry about what's going on behind you."

Harris said one of the best parts about being a medevac pilot is the sense of accomplishment the profession offers.

"At the end of the day, it's really nice to know that you are helping people," he said.