Air Attack Jobs?

[Mad Hatter]

Can anyone recommend an operator? I am trying to bust out of S.E. AK flying & into fire suppression, just a support job is fine (foot-in-door). My drawback is 100 hr of multi., lots of total & round eng. time.

Recommendation to anyone wanting to do the AK bush thing: Do it! Great experience (if you survive) but don’t stay to long cause it’s hard to get out…

 

[Timebuilder]

I asked about that, and got a good response from Avbug, who does a lot of this.

If I recall, mechanic experience (A&P) was a requirement. I don't have the time or money for the A&P, so that left me out.

Try a search.

 

[mar]

Painted into the proverbial corner

I see you're a new guy here. I'll be first to say welcome--and look out! These guys can be ruthless.

I don't know anything about Air Attacks--except for a few drunks I've had on board (and, no, I'm not talking about management)--but I think you might need to exchange a few Private Messages with a guy named Avbug.

He's been around that scene quite a bit.

As for the Alaska bush scene: Tell me about it brother.

I painted myself into a corner. Even if there were jobs elsewhere I'm not sure I could manage the move *and* the pay cut.

Good luck.

 

[340drvr]

try
www.airwestinc.com or
www.avcenter.com

both were recently looking for summer-only air attack pilots.
Sorry, I don't recall the minimums.

 

[Mad Hatter]

To the above, thank for the leads...

 

[inline]

Can anyone recommend an operator? I am trying to bust out of S.E. AK flying & into fire suppression, just a support job is fine (foot-in-door). My drawback is 100 hr of multi., lots of total & round eng. time.

Recommendation to anyone wanting to do the AK bush thing: Do it! Great experience (if you survive) but don’t stay to long cause it’s hard to get out…

After having flown both, I'd say flying in S.E. Alaska is a whole lot safer. The accident rate for tankers is way up there.

 

[avbug]

I believe he was asking about air attack, not tankers. The last fatal air attack accident I can recall involved a friend about six years ago. I recall one other about three years before that...not really a high risk end of the business, but not a bad way to get introduced to the aerial side of the fire ground.

Tankers are a whole different ball game.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Your right! I reread my original post. Can anyone recommend a good shrink?

 

[avbug]

So you're looking to fly a tanker, or an air attack ship?

 

[Mad Hatter]

Avbug, good to see you. Thanks for the clarification, I feel better now. Yah, "get introduced to the bussness" that's exactly what I had in mind. Maybe a right seat job on a tanker... "gulp". Remember only 100 hr Multi. Would you know of a place that would respect a bunch of Round eng. time to compensate for the low multi.? And yes I still have a little hearing left....

 

[avbug]

Get introduced to the business would be an air attack job. Get in over your head might be a tanker job...if you can find one. There are a lot of tanker crewmembers out of work right now. It takes about ten years in a tanker to upgrade...employers will go for a pilot with carding and experience over a new pilot any day. The opportunities do come up, but not often.

PM me.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Admittedly, I would like to fly tankers (don't tell my mom), I just figured I would have to start at the edge of the business & work my way in..

 

[414Flyer]

I got my start in air attack and will be on a tanker this summer.

PM me and I will give you some good resources to find an air attack job.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

I'll cut you a deal...

PM me and I'll tell you what very little I know about trying to get into the airtanker game. Been at it (but not as hard as some) nigh on four seasons or so... But I could admittedly be much more persistent.

But I've got Alaska questions for you.

PM me. I'm getting into ANC in about two weeks.

Dan

 

[Mad Hatter]

Avbug, thanks for the invitation. I have to leave right now but will PM you later today.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Dan & 414flyer I will PM you later...

 

[moving2vegas]

air attack

Mad H,

To fly air attack under government contract you have to be OAS carded and there are minimum flight times. OAS requires 200 hrs multi and 25 in A/C type. The contractors out west are using barons and twin commander's predominantly. Most contractors I know of have already or are currently running their new hire/ recurrent ground school. It's a little on the late side to start looking for an air attack position this summer. Earning potential has dropped for air attack recently. The various agencies (BLM, USFS, BIA, NPS) use to grant many contractors exclusive contracts. Meaning the contractors made good money and passed that on to you. Traditionally an air attack pilot got paid a day wage(everyday) regardless of if you flew or not. Budget restraints or whatever has forced many government contracts to switch to CWN or call when needed. Now the operator (and you)only make money when the plane is flying. The money is OK, but not what it once was. As far as tankers, I gotta agree with the previous posts. Extremely difficult to get into. There's only a hand-full of large multi tanker companies out there. Aero union, hawkins & powers, neptune and ardco are the big players I believe. Turnover is almost non-existent and I was told to shoot the captain if I wanted to ever upgrade. I spoke with a long time aero union captain a few years ago and he said that there is usually only 3-4 tanker co-pilots hired each year to fly the big stuff and that's across all operators. Here's what I was told to do: get an A&P, get into air attack (light twins) in the summer, crop dust in the off season, start flying SEAT (single engine air tanker), apply for the big stuff after a few years, plan on being a co-pilot for a very long time. I'm defiantly not trying to pi$$ on anyone's dreams, just provide a little reality. I use to fly in SE AK like you and I'm currently on the list with a couple of air attack operators. I live out west and was a USFS firefighter when I was younger, so I'm pretty in tune with what’s going on and not speaking out my A$$. Listen to what the other posts have said, it's a tough game but it can be done. PM me with questions

Been to Hoonah lately?

 

[414Flyer]

I am a new copilot on a DC-4 this season. I did get pretty lucky and it was all timing, of course I did do everything possibly to put myself in the right spot at the right time.

I think there is probably still time for someone to get an air attack job, they just cant waste anymore time and need to get on it. one can go to the oas website and find the names of every contractor that is used. Some of the companies up in the NW still wont train until april probably.