Aerial Application
After 34 years of doing this, with some airline work in the mix, I’ve decided to go a different direction. For a lot of reasons really, but quality of life is the biggest.
The ag industry is extremely hard to get into, but is experiencing a pilot shortage as well. For example, I helped find my replacement, and with a nation wide ad in our trade magazine, I had 4 calls. 2 guys over 60 and two other guys that were probably just fishing.
To answer in order, I don’t think UAV’s will ever take over. I did tons of fertilizer work and the plane I flew carried a minimum of 4500#s of fertilizer. When I sprayed, I usually carried 750-775 gallons of liquid. Almost every load has drift or human contact concerns. I can’t see how drones will ever be able to have the capacity to compete economically or have the intelligence to avoid spraying cars, people, houses or estimate drift and how far to stay away from susceptible crops.
Im in the south. Our season is usually 10 to 11 months.
Without knowing your experience, I’d say an ag school and banging on hanger doors is going to be required. I owned a business for awhile and start my son in it. I don’t think I would do that with someone else. The risks are just to big and it made me a nervous wreck!
I was making between 2-300 flying 650 to 900 hours. I was on the top end. I know guys around here that make less than half that. It’s 7 days a week. Don’t get sick and try to call in.
John Burke will probably chime in shortly. He’s more experienced than me and more eloquent with grammar than me, but my advice, with the pilot market as it is, go to airlines unless your a old guy like me, make as much or more money with a retirement plan, and buy a Pitts
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