is crop dusting dorky?

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Two stroke?

4 stroke - No air cleaners, no rear fender. Honda CB72 (250)...Rear wheel thru mud right into the carbs.....

[Normy]

I'm a pilot for a major airline, an i've flown 747's as captain at a previous employer; In my view, crop-dusters are insane. They get paid NOTHING, yet they are probably the most talented pilots in the industry! The things they do are insane! They execute low altitude aerobatics every day! I'm known as a "good stick" in the industry, which means I naturally know how to fly airplanes. But I don't do the sorts of maneuvers that these people do on a regular basis- hell, I'm used to flaring at 50 feet. But these guys are totally linked with their airplane- they become one with the machine 10 times per day, and I do it two or three times, and even then it is just a takeoff or landing.

That is a VERY dangerous job!

N

[Normy]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Tim,

Come on out here to Arizona and will take you (and the wife if she wants) up for a ride. As a former crop duster and spray pilot, am guessing that 99% of the people on the forum could take about 2 minutes of our normal spraying flights.

Under the wires, inches from the plants (and the ground) and so on usually gets on most people's nerves in a short time frame. Some go silent, some jabber and some even try to grab the controls and take control. Not that they know how to fly but they do not like it...

Was just giving some dual instruction to someone recently who wanted to be a spray pilot. Finally sat them down and broke the hard news to them that they just did not have what it took to do this and that they needed to find something else in the aviation world to do. They locked up when we got near the ground and just not where you want to be.

You make a mistake flying most things and you have a chance to recover. Dusting you normally do not. Good friend of mine was one of the original pilots selected to the group of 10 to be the "Freedom 7" group of astronauts. He got bounced out due to what they thought was a funky heartbeat only to find out later that there was nothing wrong. Just over 10 years later after he retired from the Air Force he was crop dusting in the Dakota's when a bird flew into his windshield.

He could not see and went down hard in the field he was spraying. He had over 200 gallons of chemical in his hopper and he was covered in it, not to mention injured really badly with a punctured lung and numerous broken bones. Had to be cut out of the plane and he stayed in the ICU for a couple of weeks then into recovery. Hospital officials could not figure out what was going on as every bunch of flowers anyone brought into the wing where he was wilted and died within hours. Turns out the chemical he was spraying was oozing out of his body in such a high concentration that it killed everything around him.

Dusting is a young mans game and someone 20-40 years old is par for the course. If you see them at the local pilots hangout they usually have a lot of friends buying them drinks. What you do not see is the wheelbarrow they need to carry their balls out nor the life insurance policy that they have to support their family when they go down. Most spray pilots move on at age 35-40 as they realize that they have a chance to live and that chance is not being a spray pilot.

I must say...that while I don't like your politics, I think you have good taste in machines, and this post was perfect.

N!

[944Larry]

Originally Posted by Normy

I'm a pilot for a major airline, an i've flown 747's as captain at a previous employer; In my view, crop-dusters are insane. They get paid NOTHING, yet they are probably the most talented pilots in the industry! The things they do are insane! They execute low altitude aerobatics every day! I'm known as a "good stick" in the industry, which means I naturally know how to fly airplanes. But I don't do the sorts of maneuvers that these people do on a regular basis- hell, I'm used to flaring at 50 feet. But these guys are totally linked with their airplane- they become one with the machine 10 times per day, and I do it two or three times, and even then it is just a takeoff or landing.

That is a VERY dangerous job!

N

Paid nothing? Maybe wages have dropped since I flew but I always drew 20 to 25% of plane gross depending on plane type. I quit flying in a Jet Ranger that easily grossed $1000 per flight hour and a flying season normally ran around 400 hours.

[944Larry]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Tim,

Come on out here to Arizona and will take you (and the wife if she wants) up for a ride. As a former crop duster and spray pilot, am guessing that 99% of the people on the forum could take about 2 minutes of our normal spraying flights.

Under the wires, inches from the plants (and the ground) and so on usually gets on most people's nerves in a short time frame. Some go silent, some jabber and some even try to grab the controls and take control. Not that they know how to fly but they do not like it...

Was just giving some dual instruction to someone recently who wanted to be a spray pilot. Finally sat them down and broke the hard news to them that they just did not have what it took to do this and that they needed to find something else in the aviation world to do. They locked up when we got near the ground and just not where you want to be.

You make a mistake flying most things and you have a chance to recover. Dusting you normally do not. Good friend of mine was one of the original pilots selected to the group of 10 to be the "Freedom 7" group of astronauts. He got bounced out due to what they thought was a funky heartbeat only to find out later that there was nothing wrong. Just over 10 years later after he retired from the Air Force he was crop dusting in the Dakota's when a bird flew into his windshield.

He could not see and went down hard in the field he was spraying. He had over 200 gallons of chemical in his hopper and he was covered in it, not to mention injured really badly with a punctured lung and numerous broken bones. Had to be cut out of the plane and he stayed in the ICU for a couple of weeks then into recovery. Hospital officials could not figure out what was going on as every bunch of flowers anyone brought into the wing where he was wilted and died within hours. Turns out the chemical he was spraying was oozing out of his body in such a high concentration that it killed everything around him.

Dusting is a young mans game and someone 20-40 years old is par for the course. If you see them at the local pilots hangout they usually have a lot of friends buying them drinks. What you do not see is the wheelbarrow they need to carry their balls out nor the life insurance policy that they have to support their family when they go down. Most spray pilots move on at age 35-40 as they realize that they have a chance to live and that chance is not being a spray pilot.

Joe-Do you know Stan Lawless down at Somerton AZ. Had an operation in the irrigated country down there.

[Jim Bremner]

I've nearly driven off of the 5 a few times watching 'dusters in the central valley.

Too bad we can't get them to watch for CHP for us!

[Crowbob]

A couple springs ago I was innocently minding my own business in my own backyard when one of those crazy dusters came looping up over the trees. By summer the lawn greened up really nice right where I was standing. I thought the damn plane was gonna knock me over! They were spraying the gypsy moths I found out.

[mattdavis11]

Crop dusting is non-union employment. $500 a section or a fart, it matters not. They do their job.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

They were spraying the gypsy moths I found out.

From memory (possibly flawed) I think the application rate for Gypsy moth pheromone is incredibly small...like microgram/acre small. We see a fleet of USDA turbine powered dusters locally annually. I think they are remarkable machines and to me, the video posted earlier drives the point home.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by 944Larry

Joe-Do you know Stan Lawless down at Somerton AZ. Had an operation in the irrigated country down there.

I know his name but have not met him. Have been out of the spraying field for 20 years now so not in touch with the guys doing it these days. I know where their watering hole is and see their trucks there but thats it.

[UconnTim97]

Joe,

Thanks for the offer. We would both be up for the ride! That is one if those once in a lifetime type if things that one doesn't pass on. We are still working our summer plans out right now, but I did throw in an option for a trip out west. I'll keep you updated if we can make it out your way this summer.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Agreed - I had a Canadian guy who needed a US Instrument Rating to get hired by the US Forestry Service to fly tank planes (to put out fires). He was a bit nuts, but a damn good stick-and-rudder pilot. Fun times...

I always why one needed an Instrument Rating to fly 100' off the deck through smoke (in total violation of Instrument Flight Rules Minimum Safe Altitudes, etc.) but whatever - it was a requirement for the job.

Tank plane guys have balls of steel - crazy SOBs but damn they know how to fly...

[Rikao4]

some folks get into a plane / Helo..
the good one's..
strap it on..

Rika

[cgarr]

Hatfield down the road from us has been doing these conversions thrush for years. This thing is a rocket!

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I always why one needed an Instrument Rating to fly 100' off the deck through smoke (in total violation of Instrument Flight Rules Minimum Safe Altitudes, etc.) but whatever - it was a requirement for the job.

Fires are not always in your back yard, so you need to know how to fly IFR to get to the area where the fires are located. Plus its a frigging insurance requirement.

More and more our lives are being run by lawyers and insurance companies...

[944Larry]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

I know his name but have not met him. Have been out of the spraying field for 20 years now so not in touch with the guys doing it these days. I know where their watering hole is and see their trucks there but thats it.

Thanks Bud. They flew a lot at night out there. Last time I was over that way we were grilling steaks and drinking whiskey, at 4 o'clock in the morning. It sure got my internal clock messed up!

[EarlyPorsche]

I thought crop-dusting was when one walks past a group of people all the while farting? What is this pesticide application device you all speak of?

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by 944Larry

Thanks Bud. They flew a lot at night out there. Last time I was over that way we were grilling steaks and drinking whiskey, at 4 o'clock in the morning. It sure got my internal clock messed up!

We did a lot of work at night, especially out West. During the days it gets too hot and bumpy to fly, so you are forced to fly at night. The drinking and grilling takes place after the last plane has landed.

[944Larry]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

We did a lot of work at night, especially out West. During the days it gets too hot and bumpy to fly, so you are forced to fly at night. The drinking and grilling takes place after the last plane has landed.

Joe-thought you'd like this one. A buddy e-mailed it to me out of the blue tonight. Me in a CallAir getting ready to spray cotton in the Mississippi Delta in the early
80's.

[Joeaksa]

Looks good! Friend of mine took one of those and turned it into his private transport. Turned the hopper into a baggage compartment and fuel tank and flew all over the place. With no real weight in the hopper it was an animal and lots of fun to fly.