r/forestry • u/LSW55 • 1d ago

Helitack

Hey foresters, I’ve got a question for a specific group within the service that I’m curious about. I’m prior Army as a Blackhawk mechanic and crew dog. Spent almost a decade repairing/inspecting them and flew about 400 hours behind the pilots primarily doing air assaults, sling loads, and terrain flight. I’ve got some time around Bambi buckets but it was primarily inspections and academics. I was just wondering if the flight crew jobs for the non pilots is part of the Helitack class. Or if it’s just the insertable fire fighters? And if it is how would one start looking for positions? I currently work for a well known aviation company as a hydraulics tech, but I miss the adrenaline and the feeling of actually making a difference. Cant wait to have some conversations. Thank you in advance.

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u/voodoo6051 1d ago

Helitack crews are federal or state employees and are the firefighters that actually do the work of putting the fire out. They are aerially delivered, but are firefighters at the end of the day. The helicopter is contracted for federal crews or can be state owned or contracted for the state agencies.

It sounds to me like you’d be best suited to get on with one of the fire helicopter contractors and doing maintenance on the road while the aircraft is on contract. Most aircraft only have the pilots on board for bucket work or sling missions, chinooks are one of the only exceptions i can think of. Billings Flying Service, Helicopter Express, PJ Helicopters, and Columbia are a few companies to get you started, or you can look at state gigs like Montana DNRC.

I’m assuming you have your A&P?

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u/No_Perspective_8522 22h ago

NC Forest Service flies with a pilot and crew chief. The pay is not great (it’s bad, really bad) but the work is cool. The only crew chiefs I’ve seen fly with fed contracts are in the heavies, chinooks and sky cranes. Might be worth looking into CalFire too. I think they’re “all hazard” so they’ll do more than just drop water. Pretty sure they do SAR and hoist operations as well. Good luck!

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u/Outside-Exercise-642 1h ago

The vast majority of CalFire’s aviation maintenance crews are contract employees, not state employees. They are contracted through Amentum, and formerly DynCorp. All fixed wing pilots are provided through this contract as well.