GREAT FALLS — From military missions and emergency medical flights to wildlife surveys, Joe Rahn has spent much of his life serving others from the cockpit.
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Today, the Great Falls native is the bureau chief and chief pilot for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, a position that brings his aviation career back to where his dream began.
Rahn said his interest in flying developed while watching aircraft pass over Great Falls and listening to stories from his father, a naval aviator who later flew airplanes and helicopters in the Marine Corps.
He credits a television program that helped him see how that interest could connect with another passion: wildlife.
“It was an episode of ‘Wild Kingdom’ with the helicopter pilots where they were darting polar bears and doing a study in the Arctic,” Rahn recalled. “It was a wildlife helicopter pilot that got me dreaming about becoming one.”
That dream took Rahn far beyond Montana. He learned to fly in 1990 and later became an Army helicopter pilot. He also served in the Montana and Alaska National Guard, deployed to Iraq and flew emergency medical missions in Alaska.
“The airplanes and helicopters are kind of a tool to get a lot of other things done,” Rahn said.
In 2007, an opportunity with FWP brought him home. Rahn is now entering his 20th year with the agency and has spent about 15 years as its chief pilot.
He said approximately 80% of his flying supports wildlife surveys, inventory and research. FWP’s aviation work also includes stocking fish in remote mountain lakes and transporting people and materials into areas that are difficult to reach from the ground.
For Rahn, the location makes the work especially meaningful.
“I would say the highlight of my career is doing this wildlife work right here in central Montana,” he said, “and just being right here in Great Falls.”
After a career that has taken him around the world, Rahn said he hopes his legacy is one of service to the state where his story started.
“Just that I’ve served the people, mostly the sportsmen and women of Montana,” Rahn said, “and been able to help Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks grow and succeed as an agency.”
