INTERNATIONAL
Pilots and the Ground Crew by Jonathan Teigrob Winkler, Manitoba Canada
Recollections: The healthy green of the banana plantation stretched out beyond the upper jugs of the Ag-Cat’s R-985 Pratt and Whitney radial engine. There was a white spot waving on each end of the sea of green. I lined up the centre of the number one jug with the two white spots. As the Ag-Cat came close to the first white spot, it disappeared into the plantation. My day began at 4:30 am at the mixing station. The Growers Association for the bananas had established a group, Sigatoka Control, whose job was to keep the sigatoka disease under control. This disease, both black and yellow sigatoka, is devastating to a banana crop. The pilot’s job was to make sure his plane was always ready to fly over the banana plantations with a variety of fungicides; mixed in oil, or an oil emulsion, or in water. Sigatoka Control ground guys were always ready to clean the windshield and nozzles, They would ask how the flaggers were performing and call the flagmen supervisor if anything needed changing. They were a fine group of fellows. One of the prettier gender came around once in a while, but she was usually stationed in the office. However, we did manage to go sailing and fishing together a few times with my 23-foot day sailor on days off from spraying. The other pilot was a highly experienced and respected crop duster originally from the U.S. He was also great to be around, sharing many interesting and vital experiences. His religious belief required that he take Saturdays off. I mentioned to Sigatoka Control that maybe I could take Sundays off. Nope! That wasn’t a problem, since I wasn’t sure which day I needed off for my “beliefs”. A 28 | agairupdate.com
The flying was in the morning and never went past 11 am. We would fly high enough so downwash wouldn’t be a factor and the spray material would settle slowly. The theory was to target with the spray the newest leaf being formed, which was more or less vertical. I flew with the left door open or removed so as to be able to wipe off the various fungicides from the windscreen while in flight. The plantations were close to the sea. So, we had a gentle land breeze in the early morning, then a sea breeze as the land warms faster than the sea. Because of this, it wasn’t possible to have flagmen moving upwind all the time. Some days, the planes would be coated with spray, but since the spray materials were usually mixed with oil, it kept the Ag-Cats corrosion free.
With this new digital tool, I could race track, back and forth, change to the other side of the field, or skip a few passes every time and still do a better job. As a pilot, there was quite a lot of chemical being absorbed through the skin and inhaled while flying. There was a bit of skin rash, which wasn’t unpleasant for myself and the other pilot. When someone would ask about the effects of the pesticides we were using, my thoughts were that we pilots absorbed
about 5000 times the amount of the average person and it didn’t affect us seriously (the number came out of a hat with my personal exaggeration added). After 10 years of this type of flying, it was a welcome break to temporarily retire. I took time to swim in the Caribbean or Pacific, have a “cafe con leche” (coffee with milk) every morning and enjoy the carefree hospitality and delicious cooking of the Hispanic or Creole people of Central America. After returning to flying after a few years off, instead of two white spots in the field to line up on, there were flashing, digital lights mounted in front of the R-985 that was now on a Weatherly. The days of flying through chemicals were about over. With this new digital tool, I could race track, back and forth, change to the other side of the field, or skip a few passes every time and still do a better job. Eventually, the company owner exchanged the Weatherlys for Pratt and Whitney equipped turbo props, outfitted with air conditioning and probably a cabin air filter somewhere. However, when I was once asked which of the digital guidance systems I liked best, I probably looked at him blankly. Back in the day of human flaggers in the banana plantations, if one flagger wasn’t doing his job correctly, the managers would try to get him to do it right or have someone else do the job. I never thought of liking one flagman better than the other! Now, after a day of ag-flying, I tap the TURN OFF button on the flagman, an icon spins around in circles for a while, then it’s gone. Using the magnetic compass, I pick some spot in the distance to fly to that I know will take me back to the home base airstrip. Times sure have changed!
