Watching Ag Planes at work.....

Snaggletooth

Snaggletooth

Line Up and Wait
Joined
May 9, 2009
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Dustin
Today my Dad had to go to a Local Ag Pilots hanger, so as always I tagged along to help build my Network of Pilots. One of his AT-502's was in the Hanger and the other was out spraying. So we hung out while waiting for the other plane to get back so I could see it land and take off.

We were standing really close to the runway on both his Take off and Landing. It was so cool.

Then as luck would have it an Agcat from another local Crop Duster flew right over. So we drove a short way down the road and watched the Agcat at work.

I got to talk to the owner of the AT-502 and he said it's getting a bit easier to get a job flying Ag Planes because the students are droping out of Ag Pilot School because..... Are you ready for this..... THEY DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP EARLY!! I was stunned when he said that. So that got me thinking about Ag Flying again.

Anyway, I had a great time today. Can't wait to do it all again.
 
Snaggletooth said:
I got to talk to the owner of the AT-502 and he said it's getting a bit easier to get a job flying Ag Planes because the students are droping out of Ag Pilot School because..... Are you ready for this..... THEY DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP EARLY!! I was stunned when he said that. So that got me thinking about Ag Flying again.
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That's hilarious!

But yes, it's a lot of fun watching a good ag pilot at work. Back when I was in college I loaded for a couple of guys, and we operated off a gravel road out in the country fairly often, so I got to watch them work.

The boss was pretty decent...He could do a 40-acre load with his Ag Husky in about the same time the "competition" was doing his 60-acre load in the Air Tractor 300 (basically equal pass for pass). His cousin Bill, who started spraying in a Cub back in the '50s, had it down to a fine art. I counted counted loads one day between him and the Air Tractor...Bill was keeping up ACRE FOR ACRE with the bigger airplane. The guy could fly an airplane like nobody I've seen before or since.

David
 
Snaggletooth said:
I got to talk to the owner of the AT-502 and he said it's getting a bit easier to get a job flying Ag Planes because the students are droping out of Ag Pilot School because..... Are you ready for this..... THEY DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP EARLY!! I was stunned when he said that. So that got me thinking about Ag Flying again.
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Hilarious. But that means more jobs for the dedicated. Nothing wrong with that.
 
Hey.... Good news for me and all other pilots wanting to get in to Ag Flying.

It was fun to watch the Agcat spray. We got a look right down the tree line he had to go over and he was going just barely above it.

Then again back in June the Owner of the AT-502 buzzed me when I was working out at the crawfish farm he was fertilizing. 20ft above, Smoke on.
 
Ag spraying can't be depended on for steady income, as my freind found out. He went to school for it last year, bought a used AT-301 and in his first season (half-season actually, since he got a late start) made an extraordinary amount of money flying all he could from dawn to dusk, and even had to turn away work offers. This year, he got everything ready to go, flew his AT-301 up to the farming country, and he and the rest of the pilots he works with sat around on the ground waiting for small amounts of work orders to come trickling in. The farmers simply weren't hiring anyone for spraying this year. He ended up making in a full season, less than 40% of what he made last year in a half-season.
 
With next to no rain this year, the Ag pilot I know said if they don't get any rain soon they won't be able to fly next year.
 
Neal Howard said:
Ag spraying can't be depended on for steady income, as my freind found out. He went to school for it last year, bought a used AT-301 and in his first season (half-season actually, since he got a late start) made an extraordinary amount of money flying all he could from dawn to dusk, and even had to turn away work offers. This year, he got everything ready to go, flew his AT-301 up to the farming country, and he and the rest of the pilots he works with sat around on the ground waiting for small amounts of work orders to come trickling in. The farmers simply weren't hiring anyone for spraying this year. He ended up making in a full season, less than 40% of what he made last year in a half-season.
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I know people in all phases of aviation (and several other career choices) that have that same problem.
 
pmanton said:
There was mention of smoke in an earlier post.

What is smoke used for in cropdusting?

Cheers:

Paul
N1431A
2AZ1
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Marking you last pass to help line up for the next one.
Oh, and as a funny thing to do when buzzing your friends. rofl
 
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