A legend leaves us, but his spirit remains

Today, I received a phone call. I knew one day this call would come; but impossible to know when. I was told Mr. Leland Snow, founder of Air Tractor, had passed away. Anyone reading this blog should already know who Mr. Leland was, I don’t have to explain. What I want to do is convey feelings and thoughts that I know each of us have no matter which type of aircraft we fly; to those who don’t fly; and even to those who may not have known Mr. Leland.

From a career that launched the first Snow aircraft in the summer of 1953 until today, Leland Snow changed the face of agricultural aviation forever. Taking it from the day of biplane Stearmans, to the AT-1002, nearly ten times the aircraft. 

My experience with Mr. Leland began in the fall of 1979. I had decided to “move up” from my 600 hp radial B-model Ag-Cat to a turbine-powered aircraft. At the time, I could only scratch up enough money to take the less expensive route of a new PT6A-11AG engine that Air Tractor was about to offer in its AT-400 and Thrush already offered with its 400-gallon aircraft. 

Mr. Leland promised me if I would wait just a little longer, the -11AG powered Air Tractor would be available. Being young and impatient, I elected to buy the Thrush. 

Over the years, Mr. Leland’s and my path crossed many times. It seems like with every conversation I came away knowing a little more about something than I did before. At the 1988 NAAA convention in Mobile, Alabama, I approached Mr. Leland explaining how I was going to “write” an ag-av newspaper. He offered encouragement, but I don’t know if he really believed me. He did allow me to take a photo of him while standing outside next to an Air Tractor. 

Our relationship grew over the years. Whenever I wanted to communicate with him, instead of interrupting his day with a phone call, I’d send him a fax, even though everyone else was using email. He always responded with a handwritten fax. I am sure he did the same with many others. 

One day a fax of his appeared on my desk. “Bill, if you could, please, when you take a picture of an Air Tractor in flight, don’t have the prop stopped. It looks as if the plane has had an engine failure.” As I read it, I thought, “He’s got a good point.”  Not being a trained photographer, I was proud when I could set the camera’s shutter speed to stop the prop, as if the aircraft was gliding through the air. Mr. Leland didn’t see it that way. From that day on, I’ve always made sure the propeller of an in-flight aircraft was blurred to appear it was turning.

On another occasion, I was listening to Mr. Leland give a talk at a convention. He was explaining how Air Tractor was moving forward developing ideas to improve his planes. I left that meeting after hearing him say, “Technology does not back up.” A simple enough choice of words, but none any truer and words that have stuck with me since.

During Mr. Leland’s 50+ years in ag-aviation, he witnessed many changes particular to ag-planes. His first design of an ag-plane had the pilot in an open cockpit seated directly behind the radial engine with the hopper behind the pilot. How different things are today with the pilot sitting behind the hopper in an air-conditioned cockpit with seat belt airbags surrounded by the safest structure possible, high-tech guided GPS, sophisticated application equipment and powered by a PT6A turboprop engine. 

The ag-aviation industry worldwide will miss and memorialize Leland Snow. Just how much of the aeronautical improvements the industry enjoys due to his efforts are unknown. Even at 80 years old, he never stopped working toward making the Air Tractor the best ag-plane that it could possibly be. He pushed the limits of our imagination with ever increasing hopper sizes, airframe improvements and more powerful engines, to even expanding into the military marketplace with the AT-802U. I hope that I can live my life as fully as that of Leland Snow’s.