Visit
www.airtanker.com for the Associated Air Tanker Pilots. This will have links and general information. I wouldn't recommend posting questions asking about getting into fire work because you'll only catch grief (you'll get one or two serious emails in response, but otherwise, not much info).
If your friend is REALLY serious about flying fire, he may have a chance. He needs to be willing to do maintenance, work extended hours in less than favorable conditions, and face risks that he likely won't ever face anywhere else. He will put in typical 14 hour days, work without running water, indoor toilets, or any idea when he's leaving or coming home. He'll live with five to fifteen minutes notice to go anywhere, any time. He will live out of a suitcase in the back of the airplane, and will check out of hte motel each morning because he may or may not be coming back.
Fire seasons may last two months, or ten months, or more. There's no telling. In most cases, when you get called out or start the season, you bid your family good by, and may not see them again for a very long time. No coming home on the day off, unless your family happens to live right next to the base and you happen to be there at the time.
The industry sees a high fatality rate. Some scenes are never safe, and the fireground is such a scene. He needs to be prepared to deal with that eventuality.
He needs to be prepared to scrub his airplane by hand every time he flies. If you've never handscrubbed a DC-4 or P-3, know that it's a lot of work, and it doesn't end. Neither does the requirment to fix what you break and to take an active part in keeping that airplane flying.
A lot of folks can't take the waiting around. Sitting under the wing in a walmart chair for fourteen hours a day for three weeks without a hint of a dispatch can drive the best of people nuts. Then it's go, go, go...you may fly eight hours and never get out of the airplane...just stop long enough to fuel, reload, and toss out a piss bottle on the ramp (as certain unnamed uncouth operators are known to do).
Cockpits aren't air conditioned for the most part, and sitting at Lancaster in the summer means that airplane hits one hundred eighty degrees in the cockpit in the heat of the day. If you haven't had to make a takeoff like that, rest assured it's **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** hot, and it's hard to see with sweat literally pouring into your eyes.
It's said that tanker work is a great part time job...you need to block off a good portion of the year as you don't know when the season will start (it seems to be starting call-when needed--CWN--more and more, and going late, though the entire industry changed this last year). It's hard to find outside work or part year work, which means that you're limited in what you can do, and what work you can accept or apply for.
Having done tanker work makes an impact on the ability to get life insurance, especially if you're still doing it. Though it's in legislation right now, there are still no public safety officer death benifits for tanker pilots...you die, nobody pays...you're recognized as a contractor, despite being on the same fire as every other firefighter, doing the same work.
If he plans on doing it for very long, tell him to kiss his hearing goodby right now. It won't be coming back.
There are few positions avaialble right now...a large portion of the fleet was grounded last year. It won't be reactivated. Most of the crews who lost their jobs in those groundings are very experienced, and seeking jobs that might otherwise be filled by your friend.
It takes five to ten years to upgrade. Typically about five to get an initial attack card.
It's hard for folks coming from other backgrounds to accept that they're coming in as tanker trash, and will be viewed as neophytes. Airline pilots tend to come aboard not wanting to work, and expecting to be treated with some degree of respect or to have some clout. They're often quickly disappointed, and usually don't last long. Military pilots are often the same way.
The only real background that provides a good introduction to flying fire is an ag background. Some of the most successful tanker pilots are former crop dusters, though there are differences in the types of flying. That's not to say others from other backgrounds don't make good tanker trash, too. It's a small community, with a diverse background. I know captains that flew for air america, flew drug spray missions, flew airliners, flew military (including one distinguished individual who was once stopped by the SP's for attempting to depart in a F-4 with a rocking chair duct taped to a hardpoint).
Also try
www.afia.com for references to different companies.
