Cropdusters '07

[CJones]

Well.. We got close to being caught up today but the wind picked up 14G20, so we shut down and took the rest of the day off. whew.. It's been a LOOOONG two weeks. Get to work at 5:30-6am and leave the hangar at 9-10pm every night. So far, we've done over 60,000 acres with more coming down the line. It's starting to look like we might have a bug run in August (fingers crossed) which will keep the big yellow birds flying in Iowa till mid August.

Here are a few pics I've taken so far. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to put my camera in the truck when I leave in the morning, so these pics are just low-quality picture phone pics. More sure to come.

Pic #1 & #2: One of our 402's flying over the hangar and rinsing out onto the field behind the hangar.
Pic #3 & #4: Our 502 sitting in the grass as a t-storm brews in the background. Luckily we only got rain long enough to give us time to sit down for lunch then we went back to work.
Pic #5: Two of our 402's sitting on the ramp when wind picked up sometime this week.

I'm still trying to get a pic of all the planes in one spot. They accidentally were all lined up on the ramp at home base yesterday evening, but we couldn't get the cub out of the hangar to do a fly-over pic. Right now, we're flying 3 - AirTractor 402's, 2 - AirTractor 502's, and 1 - AirTractor 400.

 

[Diana]

Well.. We got close to being caught up today but the wind picked up 14G20, so we shut down and took the rest of the day off. whew.. It's been a LOOOONG two weeks. Get to work at 5:30-6am and leave the hangar at 9-10pm every night. So far, we've done over 60,000 acres with more coming down the line.

Chris, what are you guys spraying for? You got bugs? Is it just the corn you're spraying?

 

[CJones]

Chris, what are you guys spraying for? You got bugs? Is it just the corn you're spraying?

We're spraying fungicide on corn. It's not really 'curing' any problem, it's just to promote plant health. They did some test fields around the midwest last year and were averaging 15 bushels per acre increase on the fields treated with fungicide. With $4/bu corn it doesn't take long to pay the ~$20-22/acre application + chemical cost.

Rumor mill is starting to spout out the word "aphids" again this year. That's what we're thinking might give us a bit of a bug run in a few weeks.

 

[tonycondon]

wow if they do aphids and this corn stuff in one season you'll be ready to buy an air tractor

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Wow, 60K acres, $20-$22/acre = serious moolah.

 

[CJones]

Wow, 60K acres, $20-$22/acre = serious moolah.

Yeah.. Ton-o-money changing hands during periods like this. We're burning over 300 gallons/hour of Jet-A during the time (mucho moolah going to oil companies and local airports that usually are going through as much Jet-A in two weeks as they usually go through in a year). Not to mention the $150+ per gallon for chemical. So yeah.. MUCHO moolah.

 

[Henning]

Yeah.. Ton-o-money changing hands during periods like this. We're burning over 300 gallons/hour of Jet-A during the time (mucho moolah going to oil companies and local airports that usually are going through as much Jet-A in two weeks as they usually go through in a year). Not to mention the $150+ per gallon for chemical. So yeah.. MUCHO moolah.

So, they gonna give you a seat this year? Bug runs are usually a good time to get one.

 

[CJones]

So, they gonna give you a seat this year? Bug runs are usually a good time to get one.

You have no idea how tempting it is. Apparently there is a school in Louisiana that will get you signed off for about $7k. I don't think that includes any turbine time, though. SimCom can get the turbine transition done for a few grand.

Our pilots shut down early one day last week and as soon as they all had a beer or two, the wind died and it was one of 'those' kind of evenings where everything was still and it would have been perfect flying weather. My boss looked at me and said "So when are you going to ag school? I need to get someone in here that actually wants to fly!" Then yesterday we got winded out and I was shooting the bull with one of the pilots talking about flying in general and he looked at me and said "How many hours do you have?" I said "A little over 400." He said "Why aren't you spraying!?"

Only problem is that if I didn't kill myself while spraying, my wife woud kill me as soon as I got home for making her worry so much. ha

 

[tonycondon]

Only problem is that if I didn't kill myself while spraying, my wife woud kill me as soon as I got home for making her worry so much. ha

just dont tell her right? its that easy...riiiiiight

 

[Licketysplit]

In my part of the world, crop dusting is a dead sport. Just two years ago there were four operators in this area. I didn't see a yellow plane fly last year, at all. Last week I watched a 1966 piper pawnee work a cotton field near my house. Took him all day to do what we did in three hours with a 402 air tractor. I did a search of the tail number and find that I know the guy and he ferried 150 miles from home to do this work. No doubt he'll find out that he will not get paid until after harvest, if at all. In 04 & 05 we charged for the application only, the customer provided the product and we only flew when it was to wet to get a ground rig in the field. I herd that just over the state line pilots flew over 800 hours in the 06 season. Now they are shut down and gone for some reason. Probably didn't get paid enough to pay for the fuel. There are 4, 5 & 600 gallon turbine airplanes sitting all over the place that haven't been started in over a year.
With the aforementioned and health issues, I'm done, but I sure do miss that first load of the day.

 

[bkreager]

Yeah.. Ton-o-money changing hands during periods like this. We're burning over 300 gallons/hour of Jet-A during the time

My boss is loving every day that a few of the crackly-radio yellow planes show up. It's even better when there are a few trainers in the pattern while cropdusters are working within a half mile of the runway. Seems like a mid-air waiting to happen.

 

[CJones]

In my part of the world, crop dusting is a dead sport. Just two years ago there were four operators in this area. I didn't see a yellow plane fly last year, at all. Last week I watched a 1966 piper pawnee work a cotton field near my house. Took him all day to do what we did in three hours with a 402 air tractor. I did a search of the tail number and find that I know the guy and he ferried 150 miles from home to do this work. No doubt he'll find out that he will not get paid until after harvest, if at all. In 04 & 05 we charged for the application only, the customer provided the product and we only flew when it was to wet to get a ground rig in the field. I herd that just over the state line pilots flew over 800 hours in the 06 season. Now they are shut down and gone for some reason. Probably didn't get paid enough to pay for the fuel. There are 4, 5 & 600 gallon turbine airplanes sitting all over the place that haven't been started in over a year.
With the aforementioned and health issues, I'm done, but I sure do miss that first load of the day.

To be honest, we were on the downslide of cropdusting here in cornland. Once Bt corn hit the market, spraying for corn borer went the way of the dodo and so did the 'bread and butter' for cropdusters in the area. For a few years in a row we got lucky and had a big late season run of bean leaf beetles and soybean aphids. The last two years were slow on the bug runs, but the chemical companies did some heavy test spraying of fungicide in corn last year and had great results. That has brought some hope of decent year-to-year spraying for operators up here. That is... until they find a way to get the genetics in the corn to prevent the necessity for spraying.

 

[CJones]

My boss is loving every day that a few of the crackly-radio yellow planes show up. It's even better when there are a few trainers in the pattern while cropdusters are working within a half mile of the runway. Seems like a mid-air waiting to happen.

I bet he isn't complaining about the amount of Jet-A he's selling, though. Most of the airports in the state are probably at least doubling their annual sales of Jet-A this year just because of all the thirsty turbine cropdusters running around the state.

The only 'close call' I've seen in all the airport-sitting I've done the past few weeks came yesterday at Perry when a load of skydivers jumped and a twin - apparently doing NDB holds - nearly sliced and diced one of the guys. No close calls with cropdusters, though. Way the by -- we've had one of our guys down at OTM a few days recently.

 

[Henning]

Probably didn't get paid enough to pay for the fuel. There are 4, 5 & 600 gallon turbine airplanes sitting all over the place that haven't been started in over a year.

I've seen that coming since I got in the business. I crunched the numbers every which way I could and I could never see it working with a turbine. The fixed expenses are just too high and the work and pay too sporatic.

The best plane I see these days is the M-18B with the recip. You can buy em cheap enough to not insure the hull (that insurance nut on a $750,000 602 is a killer). While Av Gas is more expensive, at the bottom end of the atmosphere, the turbine still costs more in fuel, not to mention I can out turn the Air Tractor with the Drom and get the same hourly coverage.

 

[cropdustee]

hello is anybody out there?

 

[Anymouse]

Just nod if you can hear me...

 

[AWACSEng]

I can hear you perfectly with my two good eyes.

 

[CJones]

rock your wings

 

[cropdustee]

i need some pilots for the season coming up. iowa, missouri, illinois. corn, fungicide. also need some cessnas and pawnees.

 

[foka4]

I'm optimistic. Better corn genetics builds better bugs. I hope the ag plane business sticks around long enough for me to have a taste of it.

 

[CJones]

I'm optimistic. Better corn genetics builds better bugs. I hope the ag plane business sticks around long enough for me to have a taste of it.

Things are looking promising for this year at least. I have a standing offer for working ground crew again this year. There's even a possibility of me having my own airport station to take care of covering our 'northern' territory (Boone, Perry, etc.). Just depends on what kind of schedule ISU has for classes this summer.

 

[tonycondon]

Things are looking promising for this year at least. I have a standing offer for working ground crew again this year. There's even a possibility of me having my own airport station to take care of covering our 'northern' territory (Boone, Perry, etc.). Just depends on what kind of schedule ISU has for classes this summer.

classes? summer? you are a glutton for punishment!

 

[CJones]

classes? summer? you are a glutton for punishment!

When you get to be as 'old' as I am and still in college, you start looking for the 'end', regardless of what it takes to get there.

 

[tonycondon]

When you get to be as 'old' as I am and still in college, you start looking for the 'end', regardless of what it takes to get there.

but Chris, college is FUN! The real world sucks, even when you are old.

 

[CJones]

but Chris, college is FUN! The real world sucks, even when you are old.

College IS fun, until you have to combine it WITH the real world (my situation). Each is OK as long as they're not taken together... kinda like prescription drugs and alcohol.

 

[cropdustee]

the season is upon us. i need someone to fly my cessna, do all the crappy fields get lots of time and money for a short 2 month season in iowa. june and july. no bitchers or whinners. contact me at cropdustee@yahoo.com

 

[Henning]

College IS fun, until you have to combine it WITH the real world (my situation). Each is OK as long as they're not taken together... kinda like prescription drugs and alcohol.

No kidding, too bad college doesn't pay you to show up and make grades, but I guess there's not much resale value there for them.... Hard to pay bills with grades....