Aviation Jobs

The US - Forest Service has a diverse organization with Regional Offices located in all parts of the United States. Our activities are primarily focused on the suppression of wildfires but also encompass other realms of aviation such as aerial photography. Although our organization may appear to be quite large, we operate only forty (40) aircraft with approximately seventy-five (75) full time pilots nationwide. A large portion of our aviation activities are handled by contractors, some on full service contracts and others on an as-needed basis.

A high percentage of individual jobs include inspecting aircraft and pilots for contract compliance as well as administrative duties for Regional and National Programs. Our average pilot flies approximately 250 hours per year, most of which is during the fire season of May through October. Our personnel are also actively engaged in performing training for specific aviation related courses within natural resource management, flight training and administering check rides.

Hiring is done at the local level for each Regional Office. Advertising of each job that may come open for application is normally through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for that specific Region and rarely advertised through publications such as magazines or Trade-a-Plane. The easiest way to search for pilot positions is on OPM's USAJOBS, in the series block enter 2181 or 2101. The 2101 series are generally managemnet positions, which may include some flight duties but are not line pilots. Below you will find a listing of Regional Office contacts which you may inquire as to job vacancies.

The Forest Service operates a wide variety of aircraft including Cessna 206's, DHC-2 Beavers on floats, King Airs, DHC-6 Twin Otters, Turbine DC-3's, Shorts SD-3's, a Cessna Citation, Bell 206B III and two Bell 209 Cobras. These aircraft perform missions for smokejumper and paracargo delivery, leadplane for airtankers, air attack, aerial photo and Infrared fire mapping.

Below is a table of minimum qualifications for various positions and grade levels. While the qualifications appear to be quite low, competition for a position is normally extensive with quite high experience levels for new hires at the GS-9 through 12 levels. Most of the GS-13 positions and above are management positions, which may include some flight duties but are not line pilots.

US Forest Service Minimum Qualifications for Hiring (pdf file)

US Forest Service Regional Office contacts (pdf file)