All your landings have to be perfect...

dcat127

dcat127

Pre-takeoff checklist
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So I'm listening to a webinar on ag pilots, other than being mind-numbingly boring, the presenter says if you are going to be an ag pilot all your landings have to be "perfect".

Now I'm not an ag pilot, nor will I ever be. My landings have certainly improved as I get more hours and landings under my belt, but they definitely cannot all be called perfect. Just the other day I was landing in gusting crosswinds around the limits of the bug smasher I was flying...and well my landing was good...but firm, certainly not perfect. Even when I fly commercially the pilots sometimes make landings that aren't "perfect".

Are ag pilots that much better than everyone else?
 
Did he say why all your landings would have to be perfect, or in any way define what perfect is?

I’ve seen my share of ag pilot landings, and I certainly wouldn’t consider every one to have been perfect.
 
Every AG pilot landing I have seen has scared the **** outta me because they dont use the radio and dont care about other planes in the pattern. There's an airport in Gainesville that I fly out of frequently and those guys go buzzing in and out with complete disregard to anything else flying around.
 
I think perfect for an ag pilot is whatever is quickest, secondary to only saving fuel.
 
4RNB said:
I think perfect for an ag pilot is whatever is quickest, secondary to only saving fuel.
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This.

I have seen ag planes land on the dirt next to the field they are spraying, or on the county road near the field, and in the field itself. And land upwind, down wind, cross wind or whatever reduces time on the ground.

And as @SixPapaCharlie mentioned, I have dealt with ag planes coming in to a class D at 200 feet, using a radio that sounds like ordering through the clowns head at Jack In the Box while flying the pattern as if they are spraying a field.

dcat127 said:
Are ag pilots that much better than everyone else?
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No. They just have a job to do.

My very first off airport landing with paying passengers one of them mentioned to me that I had done this before. He didn't believe me when I told him it was my first time...:lol:
 
I don't know about landings - but I think their take off's have to be perfect. Watched a fully loaded ag plane take off a short strip. took several minutes to "get to altitude" - probably loaded up to the hilt and would barely climb, requiring very thoughtful control inputs.
 
Landing on taxiways is also in their repertoire
 
A good landing is one you can walk away from.

A great landing is when you can use the plane again.

A perfect landing is when you can use the plane again immediately, without so much as stopping the engine.
 
There’s an agplane field near here with a 15 foot wide runway. Not much room for being off center.
 
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