VOLO PER VERITAS

Guiltless Decision

Juliana Torchetti Coppick jutorchetti@yahoo.com.br

As a traveler in this world, I have had the opportunity to explore different aspects of agricultural aviation by flying ag in at least three countries: Brazil, Canada and the United States. Despite certain peculiarities typical of each country, some things are identical, such as the constant pressure for efficiency, the race against time (and sometimes, against bad weather) and the causes of accidents.

Competitiveness between companies often makes operators decide not to adjust prices or charge for long ferries to extremely small fieles. Ultimately, the pilot is expected to make up for the deficit by squeezing the turn and/or carrying a larger load. Some companies even compare performance between pilots. An extra five minutes, more or less, on a job can be the subject of numerous questions for the pilot from the operator.

Another very common situation is the pilot taking off with the hopper full to treat several small and distant areas, ending up wasting fuel.

Despite the lonely nature of agricultural flight, there is no shortage of people on the ground to try to interfere with decisions. Sometimes the grower wants the crop to be treated in an easterly or westerly direction, when due to obstacles, or even the sun, the best direction would be north or south. It is also very common that both planning and expectations are created always with optimistic scenarios: favorable weather, calm atmosphere, good airplane performance, only to find out when these scenarios are not in play, comes a very important resource: decision making.

Learning to say “no” is not an art, but it does save lives and spares regrets. I believe that every agricultural pilot has already put himself in a situation that he regretted, whether by meteorology, fuel calculation or simply deciding to not treat a field. The truth is that it doesn’t matter if the decision was made solely by the pilot or with another, the responsibility and the consequences will always be on the pilot’s hands and conscience.

After getting out of a bad situation, two things can happen. We either learn the lesson and don’t repeat the same mistake, or we start to believe that we are invincible. Those who believe they are invincible, will put themselves again and again in the same situations, until something worse happens.

One of the most experienced pilots I have ever met says his goal in aviation was never to be the best or the fastest, but to build a long career and be able to retire. I share that philosophy. Having humility, talking to the most experienced and sharing your own experiences are good practices, as well as knowing how to say “no” to something you believe should not be done. If another pilot is willing to do something that you have refused, does not necessarily mean that he is correct.

We have more and more obstacles on the ground and in the air, more and more meticulous regulations, fierce competition and increasingly demanding customers. Like it or not, this is part of our reality. But don’t feel obligated to compromise your own security to make up for it all. The limits of the pilot or the plane will not be shaped by the satisfaction of anyone (the boss, the customer or our ego).

Studies clearly show there is nothing new about accidents in agricultural aviation (except for one case that I will briefly quote in the next paragraph). The causes are practically the same: stall during the turn, collision with obstacles or collision in the air, etc. So, we already know where the danger lives. Our decision making is what will make the difference.

The case I referred to earlier as an unusual accident that happened recently here in the USA where the product mix caused an excessive amount of foam to come out of the hopper and cover the windshield, restricting the pilot’s vision and causing him to return to the airstrip so defoamer could be added to the mix.

When taking off for the second time, the pilot again had the windshield covered with foam, had an accident and later died due to injuries.

I recently took off in an AirTractor AT-502 with 460 gallons of high density liquid fertilizer. Fortunately, I was aware of this while still on the ground and checked exactly what my takeoff weight was. I flew without problems, but certainly if I had not done my calculations, I would at least have found the performance of the aircraft strange.

The subject “product mix” certainly deserves an exclusive article. When I write about it, I will remember to tell of the day when a pilot was saved by the insight of the loader who found the components of the mix a little strange: hydrogen peroxide and copper-based fungicide. But that is a topic for a future article.

For now I just want to wish that we all use wisdom in our decisions and remember: there will always be another day, another field, another plane, another job... But our lives are unique and we only have one!