Drifting Into Trouble

IN MY OPINION

Robert McCurdy bluemaxs2rt@gmail.com “Ag-Pilot Instructor — Retired”

During the early ‘90s, I was flying an AT-401 out of Swan Lake, Mississippi. We got a call one morning from one of our rice farmers to Stam a 90-acre rice field. I checked the maps and identified the field to be sprayed. The field was bordered on the west and east by other rice fields belonging to this same farmer and to the south by a “lay-out” field which really was only used for duck hunting when it would be flooded later in the year. To the north was a small scope of woods, maybe 25 yards deep. Lengthwise, it extended beyond both boundaries of the rice field to be treated with Stam, but immediately on the other side of the woods was a large field with a cotton stand of about three inches in height.

Naturally, the cotton belonged to another farmer and was not one of our regular customers. The DTN indicated the wind to be light and variable and our windsock was hanging like a wet dish rag. Calm winds have always made me a little nervous when doing herbicide work. After ordering the material, figuring the loads and working up the strategy for the job, we determined it would be better to do the fly from our base, approximately ten miles from the job site. I called the farmer and told him I was a little concerned about the wind, or lack thereof. I would have liked to have had a gentle breeze out of anywhere, as long as it had some northerly component. The farmer expressed that it was near critical that the job be done asap.

I needed the farmer’s assistance and we discussed the coordination strategy. I would lay a line of smoke from east to west along the north edge of the rice to be sprayed. The farmer assured me he would be at the north end of the rice field watching the wind and if it appeared that the smoke was moving towards the woods, he would wave me off and the application would be terminated. I told him I intended to leave a 100- foot buffer between my cut off point and the tree line and that I would be back to spray the buffer as soon as we had a northernly wind. I took all the standard precautions, using only about 22 psi boom pressure and adding a drift control agent to the mixture. Everything went, “According to Hoyle.”

After mixing the first load and flying north to the destination rice field, I observed the farmer in position. I laid a line of smoke across the north border of the rice field, pulled up and saw that it was not moving. The farmer gave me the OK signal and I laid down the first pass of the east perimeter, flying north and cutting the spray off before beginning the pull-up with at least a 100- foot buffer. The farmer observed the pass and signaled again that everything was a “go.” I made several more passes, releasing a puff of smoke on each pull up and watching the farmer for any signals. After about five or six passes, for some reason I decided to make another east-west run along the north boundary with a line of smoke and sure enough it was slowly moving into the trees. I quit spraying, but it was too late now. I damaged about 28 acres of cotton, as I remember. The farmer told me later that it had looked like all the material was settling before it got to the trees and that’s why he never waved me off. Thank God, at least I had left the buffer.

Moral of the story, and I emphasized this to my ag aviation students, a no-wind condition is a very insidious danger. When flying a herbicide job, a calm wind along with the insistence of the farmer and pressure from the operator and yourself will lull you into trouble. We know in most cases, the farmer for whom you are working, legally speaking, is jointly responsible for any drift damage. So what? What’s that got to do with the fact that you just did something for which only you will be held responsible. FAR 91.3(a) and 137.39(2) clearly state, “the pilot in command is directly responsible for and is the final authority”, etc. Furthermore, if the material moves where it is not supposed to go, then you’re in violation of the label. That’s it. There is nothing left to say.

It’s a situation we have to live with and adapt to. However, we still have a choice. Pay attention to your gut feelings. When we hear that quiet, little voice from time to time that says, “Don’t do it.”, we have to learn to listen to it and say, “No, I’m sorry, but I can’t do this job right now.”

The problem with this situation is there may be another pilot in the same operation, who will do the job, or maybe the farmer will get a pilot from another operator to do the work and in all probability there won’t be a drift claim when the other pilot does the job.

Maybe this will adversely affect your credibility. It will certainly adversely affect your pocketbook! All you, as a competent and conscientious agpilot, can do is make your decisions based on the information you have at the time. In retrospect, I wish I had said something like, “Let’s wait for a little while and see which way the wind starts blowing, because it’s going to start moving in some direction before too long.”

Hopefully, you are a competent and conscientious ag-pilot. If your customers have been pleased with your work thus far, they shouldn’t leave you. If they do, then maybe it’s for the best. In the long run, they will be faced again with a similar situation. They will surely try to coerce another pilot into flying when that pilot’s gut feelings tells him otherwise. This time the other pilot may not be so lucky.