Arrival in Campo Grande

For me, it is important to allow time to rest while traveling in Brazil. This is particularly true when you are switching airlines, meeting people and all at the same time carrying luggage that contains a few hundred AgAir Updates and trade show materials weighing well over a couple of hundred pounds.

After my visit with ABA Maintenance Aeronaves in Barreiras, Bahia, I caught a flight to Brasilia that connected to my destination, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. I arrived at the hotel just after midnight, Monday night. Here is where I would settle in for the rest of the week before returning home on Saturday night. This would give me all of Tuesday to rest and prepare for three days of "congresso", the Brazilian national agricultural aviation association's (SINDAG) convention. 

Wednesday started the three-day event. It is located at the local Santa Maria (on Google Earth) airport that is a $25 taxi ride each way from the hotel. Once you leave the hotel in the morning, you stay at the convention airport for the duration. Renting a car is about $200 a day, plus taxes, insurance and fuel, so that is out of the question. 

I was setting up at 9a and left at 9p before the day's event ended. There is just only so much a person can get done in a day; a long day of standing and being challenged to speak in Portuguese through the use of two translators. One of the translators is my long time (over 10 years) representative, Gina Hickmann from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (in the southern region). The other translator is a local, hired just to help with the convention. Both ladies are fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. 

There are approximately 40 exhibitors at the SINDAG congress. They are set up in exhibit stands inside three adjacent hangars with more weatherproof stands of exhibitors between another row of three hangars. One of these hangars houses the cantina for eating, two others for meetings and lectures.

Not unlike any other trade show, I have the opportunity to meet AgAir Update readers, these from throughout Brazil and sometimes readers will attend from nearby Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. I have been doing this work in Latin America for about 17 years and have made many longtime friends, even though our conversations are somewhat limited with the differences in languages. However, some can speak excellent English. 

I also have an excellent opportunity while at the congress to visit with the exhibitors, who for the most part are AgAir Update advertisers. There are a few that are new to the ag-aviation business and I am sure to visit with them, explaining the virtues of advertising in AgAir Update's Latin American versions. 

Now, it is Thursday morning. It is a beautiful day, about 70dF with a clear sky. Like yesterday, I expect more aerial demonstrations of the Thrush, Ipanema and Air Tractor. A couple of the Brazilian ag-pilots are accomplished aerobatic pilots. They always perform a great air show. I'll have to wait and see which type aircraft they will use for the aerobatics, but I am sure one will be an RV-6 flown by "Beto" Textor.

Keep turning... 

Arrival in Brazil

After about 26+ hours of traveling from the U.S., Sunday night I finally arrived in Barreiras, Bahia Brazil to meet with ABA Manutençao Aeronaves (aviation maintenance). ABA is one of five Lane Aviation/Aeroglobo authorized Air Tractor service centers located in Brazil. I was a guest of Grant Lane while he made his first visit to ABA. We were welcomed at the airport by one of ABA partners, Ruddigger da Silva and his aviation business consultant, Gustavo Monesterio. 

Undoubtedly, it was a direct drive to the hotel for dinner and a welcome shower and bed. Monday, we visited the ABA facility which an extremely modern ag-aviation and general aviation maintenance shop by any world standards. The Brazilian and American flags in conjunction as signs on the hangar symbolized of the partnership between the well-established ABA and Lane Aviation/Aeroglobo group. Aeroglobo is the Lane Aviation representative for Air Tractor Sales and Service in Brazil and Argentina. 

After our morning visit, our hosts took us to a riverside restaurant for local meat and fish. It was outside dining with mico's small monkeys) swinging from the trees! We departed Barreiras late in the afternoon to arrive at the convention host hotel around midnight in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. We will use Tuesday to rest for what promises to be a hard three days of trade show work, Wednesday-Friday. Here in Brazil, it is common to be at the convention trade show/exhibit hall from about 9a to 9p or even midnight, away from the hotel, at the airport for three solid days. 

Keep turning...

Not so much ability as opportunity

It is not often you find me at a loss for the written word, or any hesitation to express my feelings about something. However, I feel the need to try to relay to you how I felt about a once-in-a-lifetime event for any pilot that actually happened to me. I don’t mean to gloat or brag about this, but my kinship with you, my readers, is such I want to share. 

About a year ago, Graham and I stopped in for a visit with Tim “Toby” McPherson of Tall Towers Aviation, located just northwest of Fargo, North Dakota. During that operator-article visit, Toby was kind enough to take Graham and I for a ride in his P-51D Mustang, “Boomer”. Only a pilot can understand the thrill that was experienced from the back seat of this magnificent machine of the WWII era. 

“Boomer” is a dual-controlled Mustang. During the joy ride, Toby allowed me to make a few “spray runs”, air maneuvers and take off and land. Of course, he was in the front seat and could have easily taken control of this 1490HP machine. Afterwards, he complimented my flying skills and said I should return one day for a check ride with famed Reno Air Race and ag-pilot Bob Odegaard. Sounded like a great idea to me! 

Well, sometimes people make offers and you know they are only being polite. Particularly when it involves allowing someone to fly the love of one’s life; like Boomer is for Toby. The aircraft was built piece by piece over more than a decade. Its maiden flight was July 17, 2006. On that day, I was at the hospital witnessing the birth of my first grandchild; such a coincidence. In any case, I had my doubts if this opportunity to fly a P-51 Mustang solo would ever happen. 


As the months passed, Toby and I visited through emails and at trade shows. We talked about me flying Boomer, with him always saying it would not be a difficult thing for an experienced ag-pilot with “big iron” time. Then, as luck should have it, I was scheduled to be in North Dakota in May of this year for a couple of articles. I asked Toby if this would work for him. “No problem, Bill. I’ll check with Odegaard to see if he is available”, responded Toby. It seemed I was about to find out that Toby McPherson does not make idle offers! 

Toby is an excellent Mustang pilot with a couple hundred hours in Boomer. However, he explained to me that Odegaard was the right pilot to check me out. As far as he was concerned, if Odegaard gave the signal to solo, that was good enough for him. 

The dates were set. Tuesday through Thursday, May 22-24, with several days to allow for weather and however much time it would take flying to get me up to speed to solo the aircraft. We all met for dinner Monday night and discussed the virtues of the P-51, along with other aviation-speak.

You can only imagine the pressure and intimidation I felt. Here I was sitting with two excellent pilots discussing the next day’s check flight. I had read the P-51’s Pilot’s Operating Handbook and felt I knew the basics. Even so, lots was going through my head. I kept reminding myself that I had an edge with this “evaluation” flight. In all the other aircraft I have flown, there never was a check pilot. This time, there’d be someone to guide me through the process. I was only slightly relieved with that prospect. 

Tuesday morning, May 22, Bob Odegaard and I met at the Hector International Airport in Fargo. We went through a thorough briefing about the aircraft and how we would fly it. The plan was to depart the airport traffic area and do some airwork. 

I strapped myself into the front cockpit and Bob positioned himself in the rear. We tinkered with the radios, which upon departure went into the squelch mode making it virtually impossible to communicate by voice over the intercom. Talking with ATC and the tower was almost as impossible, but they graciously worked with us. 

With me flying, we took off and departed the pattern. We went through a few wing overs, slow flight, stalls and aileron rolls. I have to admit, with my limited aerobatic abilities, I have found aileron rolls to sometimes be a little difficult, falling out into a split-S. I can assure you, that would be a Standard No-No in a P-51 at any altitude under about 5,000 feet. The aircraft rolls perfectly, even for this novice. 

Bob took the controls, reduced the power and made a low level fly-by over Toby’s operation. I suppose that was the secret signal Bob was about to do the deed, let Bill Lavender solo Toby McPherson’s beloved Boomer.  

We returned to Hector International. The weather was perfect with a 10-knot wind almost directly down the runway. After a succession of three or four, or maybe even five (who’s counting?) take offs and landings, we taxied back to the south ramp. 

I am thinking, “Well, we’ll do a debrief, maybe get some lunch and go back out flying”. Wrong. Bob did do the debrief. Then, he asked me, what would I like to do? There really wasn’t any point to continue, since I was very much ready to fly the aircraft solo. Hmmm...

Now was the time when it all comes together. A culmination of 39 years of flying, never once thinking I’d be allowed to solo a P-51 Mustang. It is not so much the ability as it is the opportunity. The aircraft is relatively easy to fly. It does what you tell it to do. You have to have certain disciplines to accomplish flight, but it is not rocket science and it surely does not make me any more of a special pilot, other than there is a P-51D Mustang endorsement in my logbook! 

I could go into great detail about how the next three solo take off and landing went at the Hector International Airport. Details about how Bob instructed me to always roll the canopy open on final (I bet that’s a real feat during North Dakota’s winter), just in case there’s a nose over and this would help prevent being trapped . I could explain how managing the power, keeping a 400+ MPH aircraft under gear down speed of 170 MPH while in the pattern. I don’t think I can write well enough to describe the shear adrenaline rush when the throttle is opened for the first solo take off, using only 45” of 61” (67” during a wartime emergency) of available manifold pressure to rocket the 9,000 lb gross weight aircraft into the air. And, there’s the welcome clunk of the gear literally falling into the lock position when turning on final. 

Instead, I will tell you I am humbled beyond description for the faith and confidence that both Bob and Toby, especially Toby, put in my ability to solo Boomer. I am truly indebted. That solo endorsement in my logbook will one to cherish. 

Until next month, 
Keep Turning 

A coast to coast excursion - conclusion

Not being “mountain” pilots, Wednesday afternoon, Graham and I elected to follow airways south from Pine Mountain Lake to Bakersfield, California, through Tehachapi Pass, south of Flagstaff and into Santa Fe, arriving about four hours after leaving Wayne Handley’s. It was an uneventful flight, which is always good. 

Santa Fe is an “artsy” town, for lack of a better description. We visited the plaza downtown for dinner and marveled at all the shops and the pleasant dry, cool weather. After a good night’s rest, we departed Santa Fe flying east to Wichita Fall’s Kickapoo Airport, about a two-hour flight. Roberto Rodriguez and Anthonie York of Transland (www.translandllc.com) met us at the airport to take us to Transland’s relatively new facility, but not before we had an authentic Mexican lunch (the sixth Mexican meal on this trip!). 

About 50 years ago, in Southern California, Conrad Barlow founded Transland, a leader in the manufacture of ag-aviation dispersal equipment. Five years ago, James Frank bought Transland and moved the company to Wichita Falls. Last year, the company moved to its present facility where it continues to manufacture dispersal equipment and develop new components for the industry. 

Our excursion plan was to finish with Transland Thursday, then Friday fly about 50 miles west to George’s Aircraft to meet with Kansas operator Bill Warner. Bill is a new owner of an AT-401 that has had the Trace Engine (www.traceengines.com) conversion done by George’s Aircraft. George’s Aircraft is the exclusive installation facility for the Trace Engine. 

However, as all well-laid plans are subject to, Mother Nature decided she would move a cold front through the area Thursday night and the forecast winds for Thursday were to be 16-20 knots gusting to 28 knots. As any ag-pilot can tell you, that is not the kind of weather you want to be test flying a loaded aircraft with no prior experience flying it. 

I called Bill and explained I felt we should cancel the evaluation flight and schedule it for next month. He agreed wholeheartedly. Next, I contacted Andy Biery of Trace Engines. He told me he had just delivered a Trace Engine AT-302 (used to be a factory built AT-301 with a Lycoming turbo prop engine) to Lane Aviation (www.laneav.com) in Rosenberg, Texas to be outfitted with a spray system and Hemisphere GPS system. 

As it turned out, Andy was at Hobby Airport in Houston to catch a flight home to Midland, Texas. When he found out I had cancelled the Trace Engine AT-401 evaluation flight, he insisted I come to Lane Aviation’s to fly the Trace AT-302 and that’d he would cancel his flight to meet me there on Friday morning. 

OK, that would work for me. Instead of spending Thursday night in Wichita Falls, we made the 1.5 hour flight southeast bound to Lane Aviation. 

Friday morning was perfect for an evaluation flight. I won’t go into the details of the flights in this blog, except for me it was one of the highlights of this weeklong excursion. I made four flights in the aircraft that included flying it filled to the max. I was not disappointed. You should be reading a full report in the May editions of AgAir Update. 

Later Friday morning, after the evaluation flights, Graham and I boarded our aircraft and headed eastward for home. It was about a 3.5 hour flight. After landing at our office at the Perry, Georgia airport, we had completed 25.8 hours of flying in seven days, burning nearly 700 gallons of fuel. It was a great trip, traveling coast to coast and back. Unbelievably, the weather was good for the entire trip. There were a few bumps crossing the mountains and a few more passing through a couple of cold fronts. Otherwise, all was perfect. God looks after fools, drunks and Bill Lavender! 

A coast to coast excision, part two...

To say it is difficult to find time to write this blog while on the road would be an understatement. It is 7a on Wednesday and Graham and I are waiting on Wayne Handley to pick us up for the two-block ride to the Pine Mountain Lake Airport near Groveland, California. Today, Graham completes his sixth Agrobatics session with Wayne in the Extra 300L. 

We left the Phoenix area on Monday morning and made the easy flight up through the valleys of California to Pine Mountain Lake airport. Landing at this airport is a bit intimidating for a flat lander. There is plenty of runway, about 3,000 feet at 3,000 MSL, however there’s a huge canyon drop off of about 3,000 feet deep on the downwind leg for runway 27. You’d have to fly it to appreciate the illusion. It is comforting to have two engines! (However, most of the aircraft flying in and out of E45 are single engine aircraft and they seem to be doing just fine). 

Monday afternoon I left Graham in the capable hands of Wayne for the beginning of his agrobatic training, while I flew down the mountain to an ag operator’s strip southeast of Oakdale, California to visit with the Hawke Ag Aviation; Steve, Shane and Rosalyn Sperry. This family-run operation, in addition to its flying service, also farms nearly 400 acres of almonds. Needless to say, I left with a gift of about 10 pounds of premium, shelled almonds! 

Tuesday, again while Graham was training with Wayne, I flew south about 100 miles to Tulare to visit with Valley Air Crafts, the California Air Tractor dealer and service center and Johnston Aircraft, a Cascade Aircraft Conversions dealer, Thrush service center and parts sales, along with new Thrush and used aircraft. 

Mike Schoenau, owner of Valley Air Crafts, took a few hours out of his day to visit with me that included a lunch treat at what used to be Aero Dog; a converted Convair aircraft fuselage that several years ago Mike turned into a popular hot dog stand (sold over $50,000 worth of hot dogs the first month in business). Mike has since sold the unique restaurant and it has been turned into a bar-b-q place. Great lunch! 

Afterwards, I taxied the aircraft south on the west taxiway of runways 13-31 to Johnston Aircraft to visit with old friends Dave and Joy Johnston. The Johnston family has been selling ag-aircraft parts and aircraft around the world for over 65 years. Dave’s father, Elmo, started the business. On one of my trips to Australia, over 15 years ago, Dave and Joy accompanied me during part of the visit. Joy is a native Aussie. 

Late in the afternoon, I returned to E45 just as Graham and Wayne were finishing their fifth Agrobatics session. The smile on Graham’s face when he exited the aircraft was priceless. Wayne’s course is invaluable training for any pilot, especially ag-pilots. Graham had brought along his Go-Pro video camera, as did Wayne bring his. This made for great entertainment after the dinner Wayne’s wife, Karen, had prepared at their home. Just to show you how hospitable the Handley’s are, Monday night was their wedding anniversary, and yet, they entertained Graham and I as if it were any other night, sitting by the fire pit drinking Mother’s Milk (some kind of adult beverage Wayne served). 

Today is the last Agrobatics session for Graham. I’ll try to catch up on some work, digitizing my poorly handwritten notes of my visits this week. After lunch we’ll depart for Santa Fe, New Mexico, about a 3-4 hour flight, depending on whether we launch direct VFR over the mountains or follow a more traditional IFR route of airways. That decision has yet to be made...

A coast to coast excursion, part one

Saturday afternoon, April 14th, Graham and I launched on a weeklong excursion in our aircraft flying from the AgAir Update offices in Georgia to Texas, Arizona, California and back to Texas before returning home. The plan is to visit operators and suppliers to the ag-aviation industry. The “plan” also includes Graham taking Wayne Handley’s “Situational Awareness” agrobatic course (http://www.waynehandley.com/). I was one of Wayne’s charter students for this course that he designed to demonstrate to ag-pilots just how fast things can go really bad in an ag-plane. Wayne does it through hi-intensity aerobatics in an Extra 300L. 

This trip is reminiscent of the years when Graham was growing up and we’d take 7-10 days during the summer to travel the country to visit operators. It gave him quite an experience in traveling, as well as meeting people in our industry. 

This trip encompasses about 5,000 miles. With any luck, it’ll take about 25 flight hours and 700 gallons of fuel. However, flying from coast to coast, there will be much of America’s landscape that will be seen. 

Our first leg Saturday had us at Lane Aviation (http://www.laneav.com) in Rosenberg, Texas for dinner and an overnight stay. We departed Rosenberg about 9a heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas to have lunch with AgAir Update’s AirFire & Forestry editor, Marc Mullis. 

We met with Marc and a fellow SEAT pilot, Bill Rose (SD) and enjoyed a great traditional Mexican lunch, Taco OJ’s. Marc caught me up on the latest news in the SEAT world. He is not expecting the firefighting season in Texas to be of any magnitude in comparison to last year’s. 

After lunch, Graham and I departed Fort Stockton for Phoenix, AZ. Now, the scenery changes from the never ending plains of west Texas to the mountains that cross between El Paso and Phoenix. It was an easy flight at 12,000 MSL, except for the never ending headwind. 

Tonight, we go to dinner with Greg Guyette of Hemisphere GPS (http://www.hemispheregps.com/) Guess what, Mexican! Fortunately, Graham and I love Mexican food. Did I say we had Mexican for breakfast this morning at Bob’s Taco Stand in Rosenberg? 

38 years of memories in one place

Yesterday was an interesting and fantastic day at the annual Georgia AAA spray clinic and fish fry. There were aircraft calibrating their spray patterns and many old friends to touch base with. Many of us there, if not most, have been friends for over 35 years. It was more like a reunion than a spray clinic. 

When Terry Humphrey, working again with the Thrush factory, landed in a new dual cockpit 510P and walked up the ramp, memories of the Ayres Corporation came back to me. Charlie and Molly Foster dropped by, although Charlie has been out of the flying business for several years. I remember Charlie used to fly a Stearman from the north end of the county in 1974, the year I started. I was flying a “modern” Hutch wing Pawnee.

J.D. Scarborough cooked fresh mullet fillets, mullet backbones, peeled shrimp, oysters and catfish; just as he and his volunteers have done for several years at the clinic. Jack Woodard and J.D. had flown to Apalachicola, Florida for the fresh seafood (including a cooler full of raw oysters). It was amusing to watch Jane Garr (Garrco) from Indiana and two Canadian guests, Ryan Tomcala and Devon Yahoinitsky, try to “stomach” watching us southern boys “slurp” down those raw delicacies.  

Ryan and Devon were taking delivery of a new dual cockpit Thrush 510P they plan to use for turbine transition training. The aircraft is fully equipped with dual controls, Turbine Conversion’s bottom fuel loader, GPS, bubble rear cockpit window, etc. The bubble window will come in handy when teaching a student to land the Thrush. The rear cockpit view in a DC Thrush can become blind really quick.

I can’t say enough good things about the food. You don’t find that kind of eating just anywhere. Even the catfish were fresh-caught from nearby Lake Blackshear. I am sure that second plate of fried food brought my cholesterol numbers back up where they belong (j)!

A benefit of being a member of the GAAA is attending one its statewide spray clinics. The dues math is real easy - a free lunch worth membership dues alone, several passes across the string manned by Operation S.A.F.E. analysis Paul Sumner and a subscription to AgAir Update. How could an operator go wrong with a deal like that?

I can’t close this blog without expressing unending gratitude to Stephanie and Frankie Williams and all the good folks at Souther Field Aviation, who hosted this event, like they do every year. The Association picks up the tab, but Souther Field Aviation and an awesome group of volunteers make it happen. 

I am sure I forgot to mention someone, so to all those other great friends I’ve made over the years that I spoke with yesterday, it was a heart-warming experience. I did not attend the event to write another AgAir Update article. I attended to remind me of my ag-aviation roots at an airport from where I hauled many loads and to be amongst good friends. It was a good day.