Wileybird

I fly ag! What you wanna know! I'm was actually thinkin of going to a regional

flynlion

Hi Wiley!

Do you fly turbines or radials? Is there a good place on-line to get info on the Weatherly 620B?

What you wanna know about the regionals?

JohnBurke

You might be better off starting in the AgTruck, but the two are fairly comparable. Ag work is more chemicals, crops, and application than flying. By that I mean that folks tend to think of ag work as cowboy hot dog low level flying, but ag work is more about the farming than the flying. The single most important thing to know about the flying; don't hit anything. Your flying is about even application, with proper spacing, no gaps ("skips"), and an even height. Not too high, not too low. Give a lot of thought to where the wind is coming from and where your chemical is going. Drift from herbicide is one of the biggest concerns for an ag aviator, and one of the principle sources of law suites and losses of profit in any given spray year. It only takes one or two drift claims to ruin a season financially; it's best to have none.

Some operators prefer that you've completed an ag course first; sometimes insurance looks favorably on that. Not everyone is insured, so not everyone cares.

You'll need to complete ag certification at the state level for the area you're operating; there are typically several tests applicable to the type of spraying you'll be doing (herbicide, right of way, etc). These tests cover ag knowledge, laws regarding pesticides, hazardous materials, and so forth, operating practices, and so on. Some states want to see you holding membership in an agricultural association, completing classes and credits for ongoing continuing education, etc.

Some operators prefer their pilots to be mechanics or have maintenance skills and experience. Not all. If you don't have that experience, you'll probably be getting some of it during the season.

Warm up radial engines; they're not turbines that can be started and followed with an immediate takeoff. Be kind to them, idle descents aren't for radials. Baby them. Lean well on the ground.

Consider anything on the ground that resembles a straight line to be bounded by fences, phone lines, and power lines. Consider anywhere that doesn't resemble a straight line to contain unseen fences, phone lines, power lines, standpipes, irrigation equipment, hidden posts or poles, farm equipment, and any other type of hazard to aerial navigation that you can imagine.

Keep the habit of inspecting the field before you fly it, no matter how well you know the field. I've known a few individuals who had worked an area for 20 and 30 years, and who caught illegal power taps or wires that had been erected since the last time they flew a particular field. Look each field over each time like it's the first time you've flown there.

Don't get complacent.

Keep accurate records of every flight; all details from gallons to acres to winds at the time you sprayed the fields. Time of day. Anything you can reference if someone comes back to question the job you've done.

Carry a camera. One day you'll be glad you did. Documentation goes a long way.

Work hard, but don't fly fatigued. Know your limitations, that of your aircraft, and that of the chemical.

Your airplane may be a glorified manure spreader, but treat it like a showroom piece, and clean it accordingly. Pesticides can be corrosive, and can trap moisture that aids corrosion, as well as enabling galvanic corrosion. It gets into tailwheel bearings, and between tubing and fabric or tubing and skin to cause corrosion.

Get a baseline blood cholinesterase test done at the start of the season; It might be important in the event of an organophosphate poisoning later.

When loading and mixing chemicals, stay upwind. Don't let chemicals splash when being mixed.

Be careful about transferring too much about what you think you know about flying from the airline world, to ag. Ag flying is a lot closer to barnstorming than it is to the airline or corporate world. It's not rocket science, but the flying is different.

Don't push yourself too hard. Don't be in too big a hurry to get turned at the end of the field. Nice easy race track patterns are more the normal than traditional "ag turns" these days, anyway. Remember that you may be a 13,000 hour pilot, but when you get in the field, you're a one hour ag aviator. Act accordingly.

The weatherly has a fairly small radial engine; most use the R-985. Hopper capacity isn't large. Ag airplanes tend to be great fliers when empty, and real dogs when loaded. Be careful how much you haul out, and remember that it's not the same airplane when its loaded. Don't box yourself into a corner, and that includes turns as well as obstacles at the end of the field when it's time to pull up.

Hopper capacity may be three fifty gallons; that doesn't mean you can (or should) fill it up, particularly when it's hot and the field is short (and has powerlines at each end). If you're doing higher gallon work, you'll only spray a few acres before you're headed back to land; ag work frequently involves a lot of takeoffs and in any given day. That can lead to fatigue and complacency on a busy day or series of busy days. Keep that in mind. Hot loading is common, so you may find yourself frequently taxiing in and loading without shutting down.

Wileybird

Not really a website for ag aviation other than agair update which is a newspaper every month and guys selling planes and company's advertising. I really don't know of a place to find info on weatherly aircraft as they don't make em anymore and sometimes parts get a little scarce! I fly a cessna 188 ag-wagon (72), I also have a (71) radial thrush that I bought last year and am trying to sell( burns 40 g/hr at 6$ gal). I personally would never buy another radial. Radials are thing of the past and every time you take off I cross my fingers I make it back to same spot I took off n have it blow a jug or a slew of other problems radials are prone to. Biggest thing with ag is be safe fly higher if you have too n don't let anybody pressure you into something! Know your surroundings if it's hot or your in hilly country! Make sure you start your pull up early to clear hills or powerlines or any obstacle! Feel the plane n let it fly! It'll tell you when it's ready to lift off the ground and fly. Big wide turns till you get some chemical sprayed off n get lighter. I work for myself but when I start early I usually get tired by 11-12 and will find myself making stupid mistakes and will quite for day or come back at night n spray a load or two if wind dies down. YES don't drift! Crops these days are expensive! Which regional you fly for?
Kelly

Airhoss

If the landings equal the takeoffs for any given day I'd say you are in the "win" category.

flynlion

Wow, thanks John.

Right now the boss is planning on buying another Weatherly for next season, and if that works out he wants me to fly it! Otherwise I'll probably start out part time in the Ag Wagon, either way is fine by me. I'm already approved by the insurance company and I've been studying the books for the South Carolina General Pesticides (core) test, Ag Plant Pest Control, and Aerial Applicator's written tests. I'm definitely a city kid but I've done a fair amount of bush flying up in Alaska and my most recent time is in a Pawnee tow-plane at the local glider club, I like learning about different types of flying. The chemical and farming work is totally new and I plan to spend a good deal of time watching the loaders and driving around the area looking over the customers' fields. There's certainly a lot to learn.

flynlion

Hi Kelly

Are you out West? This particular ag outfit is in South Carolina right next door to some rather small farms, with very short ferry times between fields. For this reason the boss loves the Weatherly though he says he would buy a turbine if he won the lottery LoL

I was an RJ Captain with Mesa, which might explain why I got so burned out Thing is, at the time that I left it seemed like it wasn't just Mesa that was going downhill but the entire industry. I think I'd rather spend a day with farmers and crop dusters then at any major airport, given a choice.

flynlion

One thought Kelly, if you like running your own business as you do now you probably won't like working for a regional. At the regionals there is always some REMF telling you what to do, and it gets pretty old.

JohnBurke

Radial engines, especially properly maintained, can be great powerplants. They won't ever have the reliability level and mean time between failures that turbine equipment will have, and I've experienced a number of engine failures behind radial engines, but most all of those have been in mutli engine aircraft with large radials.

I do sometimes fly single engine radial aircraft these days, on PZL M18's; these are large Russian versions of the 1820. It's a good engine. Radials do require more work, and they're generally dirty; it's hard to work around them and not get dirty, and not have oil on the ramp. It's possible, but it takes work, and generally in ag operations, you're going to get dirty with the engine and oil.

The Ag Truck (and Ag Wagon and Husky) are basically a Cessna 185 with the wings on the bottom, instead of on top. If you can fly a 185, you shouldn't have any problem with an Ag Truck. They're comfortable and fun to fly. Fairly forgiving, too.

Don't correct for drift by banking when flying a line down a field. Keep your wings Level, and adjust with your rudder. It seems natural to bank slightly to turn or adjust while flying your line. Don't. Ruder it over, but keep those wings level, and when flying with a gusty crosswind, keep the nose swinging back and forth to stay on your line while holding those wings level.

Even small changes in altitude will result in "skips" in the field that where insufficient chemical reaches. These won't be seen right away, but where you're doing herbicide work, you'll see it as green patches in a wheat field or a rising crop, where the weeds aren't controlled; you'll see it as patches of infestation in a pesticide application where the insects weren't controlled. It's usually not too big of an issue with pesticide, but it can be with herbicide.

While herbicides are overall less toxic and dangerous than most pesticides that you'll apply, the liability with the herbicides is much, much greater. That's the area that will cause your employer the greatest concern.

If you're spraying in an area with small fields, be aware that they're likely surrounded by fences, powerlines, or both, as well as trees, ditches, raised earth for irrigation ditches, etc. These mean shorter runs through the fields, as the fields are smaller, as well as more frequent push-overs and pull-ups by powerlines and other obstacles. It also may mean more trips under powerlines. Be careful doing that, especially if you've never done it before.

Flying under powerlines is a legitimate act in an ag airplane, but there are plenty of ways to get yourself hurt or killed doing it. If you have a low powerline and attempt to get under, you stand a chance of catching the top of your vertical stab, and you also stand a chance of catching a fence, guy wire or support wire, or other objects close to or beneath the powerline.

When you go over powerlines, it's generally accepted that you pick the highest point on each pole or support, and stay above that, no matter what you think you see strung between them. You may think the lines are lower, but there may be additional wires that you don't see; they won't be higher than the supporting poles or structures (in most cases), so if you see lower lines, always assume there may be others higher, stretched tightly between the poles. There are occasionally cases in which smaller support structures stick up from the poles and which carry smaller wires that may be unseen. Be careful and don't assume you've seen everything when you look an object over. This especially includes flying over antennas and towers; there are sometimes very small, very difficult to see wires, poles, or other obstacles sticking out the top of a tower or antenna; even if you think you can see the top, you're usually well advised to fly around the tower, always at least above or higher than what you think is the top. Even if you think you see the top, don't overfly that tower. There may be a lot more up there that you don't see, and you may not see it until its too late. The same applies to support and guy wires; they may extend a lot farther out from a tower than you think, and while you may see some of the wires, often there are others which extend out even further. Never assume.

You may have trained for off field landings before, but today it's not common for pilots to have actually trained to a landing. When you're operating at low level (doing ag, you may never climb above 500' in some areas), if you have a power loss, setting up for a forced landing is not the same as experiencing a power loss at a thousand feet, or some higher cruise altitude. You may very well be settling for what's directly in front of you. You may very well end up upside down. Be blindfold familiar with the cockpit, and know how to exit if you're hanging in the straps. Know how to remove the canopy or canopy side doors, and to find everything by feel. It may save your life.

Get a good helmet. Don't skimp. I prefer good Gentex helmets. I like the HGU-55 for its light weight. If you go that route, get the Oregon Aero helmet liner; it's much more comfortable than the TPL or other liners available. When working long days, a comfortable helmet is important. I do not like ANR in a helmet; I want to hear the airplane, the engine, and the slipstream. If you go with the HGU-55, the standard helmet uses a bungee visor system. It's fine until the bungee starts, to wear, but there's always a strong chance that the visor is going to get damaged. I recommend getting a protective helmet visor assembly installed, like the older HGU-33's had. It can be had standard on the HGU-55/P, I believe, but you can have Government Sales or Gibson & Barnes (the old Flight Suits Unlimited) put one on the helmet when you order the helmet.

Don't let anyone talk you into flying ag without a helmet. There are some that still do, and some that will try to pressure you that way. Don't.

Nomex is up to you. Many ag operators don't wear it, often because they think it's too hot. I disagree, especially if you wear just the flight suit (and don't put it on over another layer of clothing). It won't become important to you until you're on fire, then you'll be glad for the rest of your life that you elected to wear that flight suit.

Many years ago the national aerial applicator assn (NAAA) put out an article that identified seven years as the magic number representing the average lifespan of an ag pilot. That took into account those who went a long lifetime without incident, as well as those that died their first season. Seven years of spraying before meeting your demise isn't really a very long career; make sure yours ends up on the high end by not taking chances, and wearing protective equipment.

Insist on good maintenance. I've worked for operators that believed in good maintenance. I've seen others however, that failed miserably in that department. I've seen loading valves so badly corroded that they were held in place, quite literally, with barbed wire, with all the surrounding metal eaten away. I've seen aircraft that, when pulled out of the hangar, fell on the ground as the tailwheel stinger broke off. I've seen some really bad maintenance out there; and some cowboy operators who still manage to get by continue to operate that way. Remember that it's your career, and your life, and your record. Don't take chances with poor maintenance. If the equipment isn't taken care of, you won't be, either.

Make sure you keep your equipment clean. Some operators don't. Dirty airplanes hide leaks and cracks. They hide corrosion, and even support it by allowing moisture and corrosive chemicals to settle into faying surfaces and other areas where chemical and galvanic and fretting corrosion can occur. Take oil leaks seriously. Take any leak seriously. It may be the only warning you get. Same for something as simple as a smoking rivet. Find out why. Address it.

Get sleep. Simple as it sounds, you may not realize how tired or fatigued you are until you hit that powerline you missed, or catch your tires in the top of corn or mile, and it wraps the wheels and pulls you in. That's really bad feeling. With no autopilot, and tolerances measured sometimes in a couple of feet or even inches, it's not like flying the line at an airline; your flying must be incredibly precise and accurate. The penalties are often immediate and VERY severe for inattention or for mistakes. Get sleep. Your life depends on it. Stay away from alcohol during the season; focus on the job. Forget days off, forget much free time. Focus on the season, it will be over soon enough.

If something doesn't feel right, it isn't. Often you may not be able to put your finger on it right away. That doesn't matter. Knock it off until you can pull back, rethink what's going on, and then approach the field or flight again after you've had a chance to absorb it.

Never stop flying the airplane. Not until its come to a full stop. Catch a powerline and pitch up or down or even into the ground; it's not over until you've come to a full stop. Ever. No matter what's going on around you, keep working the situation until you're dead or safe, which ever comes first (or last). Do not give up. I can't emphasize that enough. It's true of every landing or takeoff. You may have days when you take off and cannot climb. It happens. You may fly an ag airplane that needs flaps to get off the runway; one day you'll forget the flaps and find out why they're so important, as you're looking at the business end of the trees or fence or powerline at the end of the runway.

Rejected takeoffs can inordinately dangerous in ag airplanes. True, you can jettison the load (but that does create some BIG issues for you in terms of hazmat), but do that on takeoff in an ag airplane and you've just coated the brakes and the runway, and may increase your problems.

Don't rush. It kills. Many years ago, south of where I was working, an individual had a hopper burst on his way to the field. He was flying Parathion 8E, an organophosphate (nerve agent) which does very bad things to a person. In its concentrate, a single drop on the tongue will kill. Some parts of the body have a high absorption rate through the skin; nearly 100% in some of the tender areas. This means it gets drawn into the blood stream rapidly. This pilot was covered in the chemical as it poured into the cockpit; the aft wall of the hopper is the forward wall of the cockpit.

The pilot saw a levee beneath him, with a small canal running alongside. If he could make the levee and get stopped, he could get out of the airplane, get his clothes off, and get as much of the chemical off his skin as possible. He made the landing and got stopped. He popped the canopy door and made a beeline for the water...and ran through the spinning propeller. He died on scene.

Rushing kills. When you have an emergency in ag, it's usually a true emergency, but always remember that there are a dozen ways you can make it worse. Don't.

Airhoss

Great write up John....