an Annual Recommitment Safety -

by Ted Delange

A typical response I get from onlookers who have watched an ag aircraft at work is: “It looks really exciting!” to which I reply that you don’t ever want it to get exciting because that usually means you’ve not heeded the oft-quoted adage about a superior pilot using superior judgment to stay out of situations requiring superior skills.

You just want daily operations season after season to be routine, with safe and effective applications and no unneeded excitement. Part and parcel of preparing for a new season is an annual recommitment to putting safety on the ground and in the air as your operation’s number one priority.

The question then becomes how to make the upcoming season even safer than the one just completed. Here are some suggestions to add to your existing safety programs.

A Culture of Safety

A while back, I was fortunate to be flying the Director of Flight Safety for the Canadian Air Force to a high-level flight safety conference. We chatted along the way about several things, one of them being how to make aviation safer. One item that really stuck with me was when he said, “Safety can’t be legislated; it has to come about with a culture change where safety is the number one priority.”

No matter how many rules you put in place, no matter how consequential the penalties you impose, safety must come literally from the ground up. To accomplish that, you need to offer safety programs that focus on education.

One great example of this philosophy in action is the Professional Aerial Applicator Support System (PAASS).

This yearly education program covers critical safety and drift mitigation issues. The objective is to reduce the number of aviation accidents and drift incidents associated with aerial application operations. It is available through many State and Regional Agricultural Aviation Associations. Take full advantage of PAASS. You’ll be glad you did.

If you live north of the 49th, check out the Canadian Aerial Applicators Association website, notably the Learning Centre. There you will find an abundance of excellent materials that promote safety and education amongst its members.

From Theory to Action

I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand. This ancient Oriental proverb makes the point that when it comes to learning, hearing is not as good as seeing, seeing is not as good as experience, and authentic learning comes when experience produces an action.

Here’s just one example. You can talk about the pitch-up that accompanies jettisoning a full load. You can watch someone else dump a full load with the attendant pitch up. Or you can really educate yourself by jettisoning a full load (of water) at a safe altitude to experience firsthand the heavy pressures required on the dump lever to initiate a jettison and the rapid and heavy stick pressures needed to counteract the accompanying pitch-up moment that occurs with a full jettison.

That way, if you decide to get rid of a load in actual operations, you will be prepared and ready for action. ➤