UNITED STATES
HANDS ON FLYING
Tracy Thurman thurmantracyt@gmail.com
Staying Sharp
A lot that can happen with a spray plane or helicopter flying six to ten feet off the ground.
B 28 | agairupdate.com
Every profession has a skillset. Whether you’re a doctor, garbage man, basketball player or agpilot. These are skills we work hard to attain, strive to enhance and endeavor to preserve. As you work your way up, you never stop learning. The day you think you’ve learned it all is the day you need to hang up your helmet. Your skill level is yours and yours alone. No one can do anything with it but you. You can let it corrode or keep it shined up and sharp. You can grow or stagnate. One thing for sure, whatever you do, it will eventually show; one way or another. Hopefully the result won’t be as drastic as having anything to do with sad singing and slow walking. On the other hand, you can always spot a guy who’s got his guns clean and sighted in. He’s efficient, safe and ready. Not to mention, he’s usually in a better mood. Complacency can sneak up on the best of us. Rust builds up quickly in the slow season. Barnacles grow in the off season. The first few hours back in the seat require extra attention and the need to take more time. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been at it, if you’re out of practice, you’re behind the power curve before you even start. Give yourself a break and take it easy, at least until you’ve got your back pockets welded to the seat again. A ton of hours and a lifetime of seasons won’t do anything to improve the stall characteristics of your aircraft. Your effective swath width isn’t going to change and the chemical will drift just as much as it would at any other time. It’s not only the off season that affects us, the redundancy of day to day (or night to night) operations can lull a pilot into a rut where he’s flying and functioning simply by rote. We’ve all experienced that at one time or another. Especially
when the season gets long in the tooth and we’re getting worn and weary. It’s something we need to always watch out for and guard against. It’s important for ag-pilots to familiarize themselves with the new chemistries that are always emerging, as well staying current on the ones we already use. Most of us spent at least a few years mixing chemicals and dragging the load hose. Once you’ve gotten in the seat, however, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about what goes on with the mix rig anymore. On the contrary. As the PIC, it’s your tail feathers on the line if you spray the wrong stuff. You’ll also be the guy flailing around the sky with a gummed up spray system, if the mix procedure wasn’t done correctly. Be aware of everything that goes in the airplane and everything that comes out. When it does, where it does and how it does it. Mistakes are costly. Excuses are pointless.
A pilot needs to be well versed in emergency procedures in all aspects of the operation. You’ll recall, your flight instructor probably told you to always look for an out. In this job, it takes on more meaning. There’s a lot that can happen with a spray plane or helicopter flying six to ten feet off the ground. A pilot needs to be well versed in emergency procedures in all aspects of the operation. The ground crew needs to be trained as well. What will they do if there’s a large chemical or fuel spill? An incapacitated
