3 minute read
Trends in Ag Aviation
By Glenn Fankhauser
If you’ve been following the trends in agricultural pilot careers for any length of time you realize that pilots in this sector are becoming a dying breed. Those who were once the rouge barnstormers revered for their piloting skills have become the victim of a changing political/consumer landscape that has seen them as the scapegoats for all of the pesticide ills plaguing the world. This is somewhat ironic since just like everything else, advances serve to make such applications more safe and precise than ever. Nevertheless, this career path should not be viewed as a dead end. To the contrary, I would venture to say that the two piloting paths you could gain experience the most quickly and become most adept as a pilot would be either an Alaskan bush pilot, or a crop duster.
To be sure, increasing regulations (particularly in California) have made it difficult for ag pilots to find a way to continue to make a living. Yet, there are still avenues that will always be necessary for pilots to exploit, be it adverse conditions for ground rigs or easy application of fertilizers. Additionally, with the increased difficulty for growers to find labor, increased opportunities for automation have created a new avenue for ag pilots to diversify. Drones may have once been seen as a threat to an ag pilot’s career, but now, particularly in light of the reduced liability, they can be an opportunity to expand and augment your business capabilities. Indeed, what we are seeing is that a lot of companies are on the ground floor in terms of autonomous ground applications. In these situations, liability of the pest control operator as well as the growers themselves is reduced significantly as you are reducing the opportunities for human error.
One person can oversee many vehicles in the field that would otherwise have each needed an operator. In a similar fashion, drones can be seen to reduce liability as well, particularly from a pilot safety standpoint.
Licensed pilots are required to operate drones that apply either pesticides or fertilizers. As such, from a business standpoint, becoming proficient in both traditional crop dusting as well as drone applications augments your business and allows you to offer more services to your clientele. In this aspect, doesn’t it make sense to embrace drones as part of your business instead of shunning them. Things change over time. The market changes, regulations change, etc. Those that are able to weather the storm and embrace changes are the ones that are first able to make use of new opportunities. I would say that now more than ever is a great time to explore becoming an agricultural pilot.
