tell me about crop dusting.

I am interested in doing crop dusting instead / in addition to flight
instructing to build hours in order to get a good aviation job. What
kind of experience do they prefer? I know all you legally need is a
commercial liscense (which I already have), so will that be enough? Do
they want more? I know banner towing is a dangerous thing, so its
fairly easy to find a job doing that, is crop dusting the same in that
regard? Is the pay good enought for a single person like me to live off
of modestly? Can crop disting jobs found everywhere, or will I have to
move somewhere remote, like Alaska? (I currently live in Ohio.)

Could someone here who has done some crop dusting chime in here and
give me some info? For refrence, I'm 22 years old, 215 total time,
CP-ASEL-IA, soon to be CFI next week, and eventually CFII along with a
multi rating, and maybe even a MEI. Thanks.

Crop dusting is one of the most dangerous things you can do on a day to
day basis. It does not like new pilots with their lack of good stick
and rudder skills. It requires much more than just flying an airplane
like a daredevil and spreading very expensive chemicals about the
countryside.
I've been at it for 40 years and about to retire. Most ag pilots are
older guys as evidenced by all the grey hair or bald heads at the
various ag conventions. It is a hard field to break into with very
stiff insurance requirements. The knowledge required is far beyond
aviation subjects and takes a lot of study to pass the state ag exams
to be licensed as an ag operator/pikot.
There is a lot of ag activityy in the Ohio area. Check for the Ohio
Aerial Applicators Association and find some operators near you to
visit with and find out for yourself. Its a tough job and not for a new
pilot.
Ol Shy & Bashful
13,000+ hours ag work and another
9-10,000 hours of the other kind of flying.

As the previous poster stated, Ag pilots are generally a breed
apart and you will not get a job doing that with only 250 hours.
It takes a lot of skill for one thing, and the planes you would
be flying and big powerful brutes and nobody will let you fly one
to build hours let alone **** away thousands of dollars of Ag
chemicals while you learn how and build time.

There is a lot of that activity around these parts (the Southeast)
but the guys that fly these missions are professionals with tons
of experience. You can do it but you will have to dedicate a lot
of time to learning the trade and the aircraft to get good at it
(if you don't accidentally get killed in the process).

kontiki wrote:

As the previous poster stated, Ag pilots are generally a breed
apart and you will not get a job doing that with only 250 hours.
It takes a lot of skill for one thing, and the planes you would
be flying and big powerful brutes and nobody will let you fly one
to build hours let alone **** away thousands of dollars of Ag
chemicals while you learn how and build time.

There is a lot of that activity around these parts (the Southeast)
but the guys that fly these missions are professionals with tons
of experience. You can do it but you will have to dedicate a lot
of time to learning the trade and the aircraft to get good at it
(if you don't accidentally get killed in the process).

And you can buy your own plane (used are alot cheaper than new) and
support equipment and put yourself into the business...

Having insurance on the above, is another thing...

"Darrel Toepfer" wrote in message
...
kontiki wrote:

As the previous poster stated, Ag pilots are generally a breed
apart and you will not get a job doing that with only 250 hours.
It takes a lot of skill for one thing, and the planes you would
be flying and big powerful brutes and nobody will let you fly one
to build hours let alone **** away thousands of dollars of Ag
chemicals while you learn how and build time.

There is a lot of that activity around these parts (the Southeast)
but the guys that fly these missions are professionals with tons
of experience. You can do it but you will have to dedicate a lot
of time to learning the trade and the aircraft to get good at it
(if you don't accidentally get killed in the process).

And you can buy your own plane (used are alot cheaper than new) and
support equipment and put yourself into the business...


I used to work at a co-op in Idaho delivering fertilizer and chemicals. One
customer with a lot of land decided he could save money on spraying by
buying his own Pawnee. Sent the oldest kid through flight training. All
went well the first day; the second day he rolled it into a ball and they
drug it behind the potato cellar where it still lie years later. Kid lived
though.

Delivered to another operator that only worked three months a year, the rest
of the time he vacationed in Florida. Flew sunrise to sunset those three
months though. Never shut the engine off during the day, even to fuel and
eat.

Allen

Allen wrote:

I used to work at a co-op in Idaho delivering fertilizer and chemicals. One
customer with a lot of land decided he could save money on spraying by
buying his own Pawnee. Sent the oldest kid through flight training. All
went well the first day; the second day he rolled it into a ball and they
drug it behind the potato cellar where it still lie years later. Kid lived
though.

Delivered to another operator that only worked three months a year, the rest
of the time he vacationed in Florida. Flew sunrise to sunset those three
months though. Never shut the engine off during the day, even to fuel and
eat.

Seen it from both sides. Newbie started this year with 2 radial engined
biplanes that they had to make airworthy. Dunno where they got the
support equipment from, but that ain't nothing fancy and he stayed
pretty busy. Need the equipment to do both seed and booms for spraying
liquids though. All the others are flying planes that are many years
old, some turbine and some with radials (southamerican low wing
Drombadiers (sp?) in one fleet). Mosquitoes are done with the small
Lycontsores, all very underpowered from what I'm told. There are some
helo operators here in LA but are fairly rare and are usually trucked
around the nation doing rights-of-way spraying...

I was there when we extracted the turbine biplane from ontop of the C150
that landed together in Jennings. Both pilots met up at the left wingtip
and were very lucky to have survived... Turboprop chewed through the
cowling and 0-200 of the Cessna and the landing gear was right behind
the flaps, in a perfect mating position...

Dunno where my photos of it are at the moment...

First, you need to start using the phrase "Aerial Applicator" and do some
google searches. I'm not an applicator, but I hire them, have a wonderful
working relationship with them, and consider them to be great friends. I
got my tailwheel endorsement from one and him and his family have bent over
backwards helping myself and my partners with our Aztec.

Many pilots start as loaders and work their way up the ladder. That means
learning about chemicals and knowing how to safely handle them, not only for
yourself, but for the pilot and the airplane. Most of the chemicals are
actually safer than most household chemicals but you don't want to mix two
things together that with agitation suddenly become too thick to spray,
createing a load in the plane that they can not land with OR spray out.

So the first thing you'll need is a state certified chemical handling and
applicators certificate. Different states have different procedures and
requirements.

You'll need to know Part 137 of the FARS.

You'll need a tailwheel endorsement and some serious tailwheel time and
experience before a 137 operator puts you in his plane. Banner towing is an
excellent example of the type of experience an ag operator will look for
when hiring inexperienced pilots, an example of a pilot making an airplane
do a job for a customer and a boss in a profitable manner.

You may have to get training at a place like SimCom. You'll definetely need
model and equipment specific training and may need a type certificate.

You'll need to be able to get up well before daylight, sleep when it's
windy, and work until dark. The more skills you have, the more valuable you
will be to the 137 certificate holder. Many ag pilots are also A&Ps, AIs,
and helicopter pilots.

Some pilots move with the work. As crops grow and progress on one part of
the country they move towards those crops and work for different 137
operations as the seasons and locations change.

Most of all, you need to get in touch with the ag applicators in your local
area. If you can't find them, ask the larger farmers in Ohio. The best
farmers use the best applicators, we can't afford not to. The best
applicators use the best equipment and maintain it the best, they can't
afford not to.

http://www.agaviation.org is the website for the National Agricultural
Aviation Association

http://www.airtractor.com/ is the major application airplane company

http://www.agairupdate.com/ is an online ag aviation newsletter

Jim



"buttman" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am interested in doing crop dusting instead / in addition to flight
instructing to build hours in order to get a good aviation job. What
kind of experience do they prefer? I know all you legally need is a
commercial liscense (which I already have), so will that be enough? Do
they want more? I know banner towing is a dangerous thing, so its
fairly easy to find a job doing that, is crop dusting the same in that
regard? Is the pay good enought for a single person like me to live off
of modestly? Can crop disting jobs found everywhere, or will I have to
move somewhere remote, like Alaska? (I currently live in Ohio.)

Could someone here who has done some crop dusting chime in here and
give me some info? For refrence, I'm 22 years old, 215 total time,
CP-ASEL-IA, soon to be CFI next week, and eventually CFII along with a
multi rating, and maybe even a MEI. Thanks.

For refrence, I'm 22 years old, 215 total time,

Must be a typo right? Must have 250 hrs to have a commercial license, at
least in my copy of the FARs.

Watson

Part 141.

-----

Anyways, I guess I won't be crop dusting (or Aerial Application) at
least for a little while...