HELENA, Mont. — Pilot Jim Maxwell has logged nearly 25,000 hours of flying time in light aircraft over five decades in dangerous situations, from combating illegal drug crops in Central America to navigating smoky skies to drop fire retardant as wildfires rage across the western United States.
In the 1980s, his plane crashed when its engine failed during a drug-eradication mission. He suffered burns that left scars. However, he remained willing to fly high-risk missions even after reaching retirement age.
The 73-year-old from Clarkston, Washington, answered the call again last month to help firefighters extinguish a lightning-caused fire in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest. It turned out to be his last mission: He was killed when his plane crashed in steep, wooded terrain on July 25th.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. Normally, it takes about two weeks for the National Transportation Safety Board to issue a preliminary report. However, fellow pilots believe poor visibility was a factor.
Maxwell’s age would have precluded him from flying for a commercial airline, which requires pilots to retire at 65, but there is no age limit for firefighter pilots. With unmatched experience and cunning, it’s not uncommon for these aerial firefighters to keep working into their 60s and 70s. Some even fly into their 80s, said Ken Pimlott, former head of the California Board of Forestry and Protection, or Cal Fire.
Andy Taylor, the 60-year-old owner of New Frontier Aviation in Montana, said he prefers to hire pilots with as much experience as possible. Newer pilots start out spraying pesticides to practice flying at low altitudes and dropping payloads, Taylor said, but they also need experience flying in mountainous terrain.
Agricultural spraying is usually carried out when the air is cool, the ground is flat and there is no wind.
“But when we talk about the fire, we usually fly when it’s 26 to 37 degrees Celsius and the wind is blowing in very steep, difficult terrain,” next to the smoke.
The pilots are in high demand during the wildfire season. Fire chiefs on the scene sometimes say they are desperate and need air support when a fire is raging.
And it’s expensive, too: The main federal agencies overseeing firefighting in the West — the parent agency of the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of the Interior — spent more than $700 million on aerial firefighting contracts in 2023, agency officials said.
Becoming a firefighter requires years of training and experience, and it’s a tough job to get into. Pilots and firefighters say it’s no surprise that they continue working after most people retire, as long as they can pass an annual physical, including an electrocardiogram to test heart function. They must also have a commercial pilot’s license and participate in training.
Taylor estimates there are about 120 single-engine tanker aircraft (SEAT) pilots working in the U.S. this summer.
Paul Yedinak, who is 73 like his old friend Maxwell, flies a SEAT, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. He estimates that the average age of aerial firefighters, including tanker pilots, is about 60 because of the experience required and because they enjoy flying.
Yedinak, Taylor and Maxwell’s son, Jason Maxwell, also an Air Force firefighter, believe poor visibility due to heavy smoke contributed to the crash, which has shocked the close-knit family of firefighters.
“Jim was the last person we ever thought would have this kind of problem,” Yedinak said.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff on July 31 and Aug. 1 in Maxwell’s honor. His ashes were taken to Lewiston, Idaho, on Aug. 2, where about 200 people gathered at the airport, Jason Maxwell said.
“My father deserved something like this,” he said.
After the fire season, a memorial service is held.
Maxwell flew an Air Tractor 802A, which allows pilots to drop about 700 gallons (2,650 liters) of retardant on fires from a height of just 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground, or 60 feet (18 meters) above the tallest trees. SEATs are typically used for initial attacks on small fires, but can also be used to fill in areas between retardant drops from larger tankers.
“Normally we can get into tight spots and terrain that the larger aircraft can’t,” Taylor said.
SEATs can also land and refuel on smaller runways closer to the fires, rather than the tanker bases required for larger aircraft, allowing them to turn around more quickly.
A similar aircraft, an Air Tractor 802F, crashed on July 10in which 45-year-old pilot Juliana Turchetti was killed as she scooped water from the reservoir to use on the Horse Gulch fire near Helena, Montana, officials said.
Maxwell got his private pilot’s license when he was 19 and worked for the federal government in the 1980s, spraying herbicide to kill opium poppies and marijuana in Guatemala. He was shot at multiple times and his plane caught fire after it crashed due to engine failure on a flight, Jason Maxwell said.
Maxwell was badly burned and required multiple skin grafts, Yedinak said.
Jim Maxwell and Yedinak had worked for the same BLM contractor for about seven years. They were fighting separate fires on the day of Maxwell’s fatal crash, in conditions where visibility was about 3 miles (5 kilometers), compared with 10 miles (16 kilometers) on clear days, Yedinak said.
After the crash, Yedinak and other pilots decided that without at least 5 miles (8 kilometers) of visibility, “we’re not going. There’s no point.”
The crash “brought us back to reality: We’re just trying to keep grass and trees from burning,” he said.
Still, Yedinak said he’s not quite ready to retire from firefighting. He stays in shape by biking, running, hiking and hunting.
“I still enjoy doing it. It’s still quite a challenge,” he said. “As long as I stay fit and enjoy the work, I’ll probably continue doing it for a while.”