Not long ago, AgAir Update adopted the slogan, “Keep turning…”. I am not sure how I came up with this slogan. More recently, I was flying on Delta Airlines when I read their slogan, “Keep climbing”. I doubt Delta took theirs from AgAir Update’s, so maybe subconsciously I picked up the idea “Keep turning…” from an earlier Delta flight.
In any case, “Keep turning…” has special meaning to ag-pilots, worldwide. The first time the slogan was sent to one of our Brazilian translators, I was told it wouldn’t translate. I explained it was not meant to be translated, but used in its English form, such as terms like “ground school” are used in Brazil, instead of “escola รก terra”. Now, the English version of the slogan is accepted throughout Latin America.
A more specific meaning of “Keep turning…” is to never give up, keep a steady pace. Of all the realms of flight, for the ag-plane, turning is probably one of the most performed. You will read in the Air Tractor cover story of this edition of AgAir Update where the author made reference to the turn technique of Eddie Shores and myself in the 502XP. Evidently, turning is a reflection of an ag-pilot’s personality; could that be?
While Eddie’s turns were described as “aggressive”, mine were termed “smooth”. Maybe that was the author’s way of saying my turns were too cautious?
After more than 40 years of flying ag-aircraft, I have found that for me, the best turn is one that starts out in the morning and ends the same way in the afternoon. Once I initiate the turn, the first control input of raising the nose of the aircraft to clear the end of the field, I try to keep the attitude change in the aircraft a constant, fluid motion; up comes the nose, lifting the wing, easing in whatever rudder is needed. I like to keep all three axises of the aircraft in motion as the aircraft executes a 270° turn; 45° out, then reverse roll for 225°. During this procedure-style turn, the ailerons hardly stop their movement, the nose is coming up, leveling, then descending, using the rudder for “balanced and coordinated flight”, as often touted by AgAir Update columnist Robert McCurdy.
Of course, this method simply does not work in a loaded aircraft. In that case, there are degrees of the turn where the aircraft flies near level to maintain, or even build airspeed. However, once the aircraft and I are able to manage the load, the “smooth” turning starts.
In the article I wrote about flying the 502XP, I stated that race tracking with wing overs was my favorite way to turn an ag-plane. For me, it is less work and I still try to have the continuous, fluid motion of the control inputs. Ideally, rarely stopping the movement when the load is right.
Every pilot has his favorite way of turning. Often his method is dictated by the aircraft. The Air Tractor and the Ag-Cat tend to favor a high climbing turn with the Air Tractor pilot using flaps. The Thrush is more of a flat turn aircraft with somewhat of a climb during the turns, again, depending on the pilot. These descriptions are for a medium load. While loaded or near empty, techniques can change considerably.
Why am I writing about this? Because I believe an ag-pilot should adopt his favorite way to turn his ag-plane. Once he has determined which way works best, he should seek perfection in the most common maneuver for an ag-plane.
Until next month,
Keep turning…
