A jammed five days
I’m writing this Saturday morning on the return flight home after a hectic five days of travel and work. I left Georgia on Tuesday, headed to Portland, Oregon. I had arrange to visit with Isolair and Simplex, as well as conducting an evaluation flight in the Turbine Husky (powered by a Rolls Royce Allison engine) and a human interest article with Grower’s Ag Service in Woodland, California.
The logistics were incredible. Obviously, I had to arrange to meet with four entities in a three-day period, with one of those visits in California, while another visit was dependent on good weather. The weather forecast for the week was dismal with a good chance of rain showers all three days.
At the last minute, I set up the meetings to be with Isolair and Simplex on Wednesday, slotted all day Thursday for the evaluation flight in the Turbine Husky and Friday to fly the airlines from Portland to Sacramento and back on Friday. As an out for bad weather on Thursday, I was prepared to land in Portland on Friday afternoon and drive the 60 miles to Salem that afternoon and hopefully be able to make the flight before dark.
Why do I put myself in this kind of position, rolling the dice on getting the job done? Maybe it is left over from my 27-year crop duster, mission oriented mentality. To better answer that question, it is difficult to get out of the office and travel cross country through three time zones and return in only a few days, plus the overall expense of doing so. That means I need to tie-in more than one visit to truly be productive with my efforts.
All worked to plan. I was able to visit with Isolair and Simplex on Wednesday. Thursday weather turned out to be great except for a howling wind and the airline flights to Sacramento and back for the visit with Grower’s Ag Service went without a hitch, although I arrived for departure at the Sacramento airport with only minutes to spare.
As the months pass, you’ll read about these visits in AgAir Update’s printed edition. I enjoyed each of them, a fantastics perk that I have as editor and publisher of AgAir Update. The evaluation flight of the Rolls Royce Allison turbine powered Ag Husky was a hoot!
It is a real vote of confidence from an operator when he allows me to fly his production aircraft. The Turbine Husky has logged about 200 revenue generating tach hours and would have been working Thursday except for the wind. Instead, it was thrilling me with its endless reserve of power and eye-opening performance; another flight for the logbook. My sincere thanks to everyone who helped make this week happen.
"Terry Harchenko of Industrial Aviation gives me a briefing before departure in the Turbine Husky to spray a field marked on the map in hand; McMinnville, Oregon."
Blue Sky and Tailwinds...
Bill Lavender
