quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
So...how does one become a pilot for the fire service? Do they even have a need for pilots or are they pretty well staffed?

That depends on the position, and on the pilot.

There isn't a high turnover in aerial fire. There are both government and contractor positions. All tanker positions are private companies, with the exception of CalFire (State of California); even then, the state owns the aircraft, but they're maintained and the pilots are hired by a private operator in a GoCo program (government owned, contractor operated). CalFire has the OV-10, S-2, and C-130 (eventually). Calfire positions are extremely difficult to get and those who do get them tend to stay with them for the long run.

Hiring is done for most operations in the fall, with training in the spring. Large air tanker copilot positions have minimums that are set by the Office of Aircraft Services / Office of Aircraft Minimums (basically ATP minimums) of 1,500 hours total time, 500 hours mountainous, etc. Most applicants have much more than the minimum.

There's been a trend in hiring fairly young, inexperienced pilots into the copilot positions in the RJ's. Upgrade can be 10 years in large tankers; while simulator and type rating training is fairly conventional, it's the on-the-job training into fire operations that can take a long time, and with very little movement and few retirements, there isn't a lot of movement.

A good entry point is flying air attack, which is typically a light twin engine airplane like a Turbo Commander or King Air, which orbits the fire 1,000' above all other traffic. The air attack platform carries one or more ATGS, or air tactical group supervisors. These are experienced firefighters, most with 20+ years of wildland fire experience and usually retired, who are trained in operating the fire from the air. The air attack handles air traffic control for the fire airspace, coordinates fire operations on the ground, etc. Eyes in the sky. The pilot positions have a bit more turnover, and many tanker pilots have formerly flown air attack. There are also fire patrol positions which fly search patterns over forests, especially after lightning or in high fire conditions, looking for smoke, or investigating smoke reports. Often this is done by air attack platforms when not working fires.

Single engine tankers require experience in SEAT aircraft, which is usually only available for those who do ag work. It's typically not an entry level job, and most SEAT pilots who come to fire already have 10,000 to 20,000 hours, much of it in the same or similar type aircraft. It's definitely not an entry level position.

Smoke jumper positions are in government and contract aircraft, and fly Twin Otter, Shorts Sherpa, and Dornier aircraft with paracargo and smoke jumpers throughout the West and Alaska. They operate almost exclusively from established smoke jumper bases (Missoula, MT; McCall, ID; Redding, CA, Grangeville, Id; etc). Smoke jumper platforms are two-pilot operations, with the right seat as the entry level. It typically takes several years to move into the left seat, primarily because there isn't a lot of movement, and the positions differ from typical jump operaitions in that they involve flight at lower altitudes, often in low visibility in very mountainous terrain (like most fire operations).

It used to be that most any tanker position also required the pilot to hold an A&P mecchanic with experience; large air tankers have moved away from that today, though many pilots in fire are also aircraft mechanics. Some operators set additional requirements; for our C-130 and C-97 aircraft, all pilots were also required to be qualified as a flight engineer on the airplane.

In addition to aircraft training, there are online courses and in-person courses such as the Aerial Firefighting Academy, and various other schools and training events that take place, as well as inspections and checkrides and "carding" events.

Some jobs require specific qualifications that are uncommon; scooping tankers require seaplane ratings and multi-engine seaplane ratings with experience.

There are a number of pilots in the single engine tanker community with Dept of State experience in South America, which also involved mountain flying and a fairly unique skill set.

Fire jobs generally don't have set schedules; the fire season determines when you go to work, and when you get released. I've had years in which I was called out one night, leave at first light the next day, and ten months later I was released. I've had other years in which I got fifteen hours of flying and fifteen days on the fireline...which makes it hard to account for income or to pay bills in the case of the latter. It also means working two or more jobs, with seasonal summer, and winter work. It makes finding winter work difficult in some cases, because there tend to be fewer winter seasonal flying jobs, and one never knows when one will be available over the winter, due to unpredictable fire seasons.

Obviously nothing to do with aerial firefighting, but the picture's kinda neat. We had largely escaped the heavy smoke conditions of our friends, elsewhere in the West, in the vicinity of the Pine Gulch, Grizzly Creek, Cameron, and Middle Fork fires. This morning's sunrise was blood red, and the skies remain smoky today. I'm told that the smoke comes from as far away as California and is not confined to the large fires in Colorado. The Middle Fork Fire is west of Casper, but south and south-westerly winds would not bring smoke our way.