A busy summer during winter

Spring is in full swing here in the U.S., while operators south of the equator are taking a rest from their season. My understanding is things are not good in Argentina. Plagued by a combination of a shaky economy most likely caused by the government and drought areas, there is hope for things to improve next year after the October elections. Brazil is having its challenges, too, with the ever changing real, now taking more of them to buy U.S. dollar-driven items. 

Something I learned a long time ago, Latin Americans are accustomed to challenges and adversities. I find them more capable of dealing with such than North Americans. In the past, the bad times have always been replaced with the good times and unfortunately the opposite, too. Agriculture is one thing the world cannot do without. Oil is vital, but it is not as important as food, which is the industry’s ace card. Sooner or later, the weather, the economy and the value of food will change, sometime for the better and sometime worse. 

I have bought my airline ticket to attend the Brazilian Sindicato Nacional dos Aeronautas (SNA) meeting in Cachoeira do Sul. Afterwards, my Brazilian representative, Gina Hickmann, and I plan to travel at this time to parts-unknown in Brazil to visit with operators and pilots. I always look forward to these trips, as I meet old friends and make new ones. Maybe I will see you! 

Another Brazilian conference will be held June 24-26 in Luis Eduardo Magalhaes, Bahia hosted by SINDAG, the national association of ag-aviation businesses for Brazil. I always attend this conference, however, this year I will not be able. I am expecting my fourth grandchild on June 25. I cannot miss his birth. I know all of my AgAir Update readers will understand. 

FeArCA of Argentina will be hosting this year’s Congreso Mercosur y Latinoamericano de Aviacion Agricola in Salta, Argentina August 19-21. As more details come to AgAir Update about this multi-country congress, we will relay them to you immediately. I will be attending this event, as well. I am planning on attending the second SNA meeting in Mato Grosso, Brazil  August 14 while I am in South America. The days between the events I will spend traveling and visiting AgAir Update readers. If you have any suggestions for where I should go and who I should visit, please advise me. 

Until next time, Keep Turning… 

Wire cutters and UAVs

“Back in the day,” as one says to refer to many years past, I operated both a Hutcherson Pawnee with spring steel gear and an Ag-Cat with the same type of gear (pre-1980). Both of these aircraft had “wire cutters” on the leading edge of the gear legs. I thought it was a super good idea, cost effective insurance in my mind. I remember cutting a wire with them, once, coming down over a tree line with a hidden wire stretching across a small soybean field. The wire snapped back and set the grass on fire along the road. The aircraft was unharmed. 

Anyway you cut it, no pun intended, wire cutters are a good thing. The idea is to not cut a wire in the first place. And, in most cases the prop would get the wire, which is definitely not a good thing, especially for a turbine powered aircraft. Although there is only a small area where a wire cutter is effective, it is a critical area where the effect of the wire is the greatest with increased leverage on the gear legs. For the relatively small amount of money they cost, I am sure I would be flying an ag plane with wire cutters. 

Drones, aka UAVs, keep popping up their ugly heads. The way things are going, there is not going to be a happy outcome with these devices. I read where Amazon.com was delivering 2000 UAVs a day. That is unfathomable. Surely that information is incorrect. Even so, a 1,000 or even 500 a day demonstrates how infiltrated the air is with them. Undoubtedly, there will be responsible operators who will take whatever steps are necessary to safely share the airspace with low flying aircraft like the ag-plane. However, I really don’t see how that is going to work. Based on recent FAA regulations, the UAV must stay within line of sight, as I understand it. That will surely be a limiting factor. If used in agriculture, there are fields where line of sight would be lost. 

UAVs are not just a problem in North America. Earlier this week, my Argentine representative had an encounter with a UAV operator who told him to warn all ag-pilots in the area he would be flying a drone. My contact told him that was not possible that ag-planes operated in uncontrolled airspace. There were words of anger passed on both sides of the phone. 

An AgAir Update reader from Wisconsin, Jim Kazmierczak, submitted a very graphic pamphlet of the potential danger of UAVs. Of course, every ag pilot is aware of the danger, but obviously some UAV operators are not or don’t believe. Be sure to check this AgAir Update edition’s Letters to the Editor for a sample of Kaz’s flyer. Readers can also go to agairupdate.com and download this flyer to use in their businesses. I hope it helps. 

I would be remiss not to mention that the NAAA is very much involved with the UAV issue, working with the FAA and the appropriate associations affected by UAVs. This is the kind of back door workings that will generate progress with the safe use of UAVs. I am pretty sure they are not going away, so we as ag-operators are going to have to figure out a way to live with them; not unlike METs. 

Spring is here in the U.S. and quickly moving into Canada. Most of you potentially have a long season ahead. Now is as good a time as any to start prepping for it. The more things you can accomplish with that preparation while not under the stress a backlog of acres to be treated, the better and safer your life will be. Don’t miss the opportunity. Fly safe. 

Until next month, Keep Turning… 

The dilemma of fuel prices

With the price of aviation fuels dropping, Jet-A to under $2.00 per gallon and 100LL nearly that low, I find myself contemplating how operators will address fuel surcharges. I was always a proponent for charging a fuel surcharge when fuel prices were volatile, usually in the increase mode - I still believe that to be true. At the time, the bulk fuel price was considerably more than it is today.

Undoubtedly at today’s fuel prices, it would be very difficult to explain adding a fuel surcharge to any invoice, whether it be for the UPS or FedEx delivery or an ag-plane’s application. What does an operator do? Reduce his base per acre or hourly rate charge? I don’t expect to see anyone’s base prices coming down because of a savings on fuel, regardless whether the charge is aviation related or not. I believe most consumers, including the farmer, believe the same thing.

Lower fuel costs are an opportunity to catch up on pent-up demand for new equipment or pay down a haunting bank note. At least buying the new equipment would come in part before the fuel savings is taxed. However, paying extra on the principal of a bank note, to my knowledge, would have to be with after-tax dollars; something to think about.

I overheard at a state convention one operator say he anticipates saving over $400,000 in 2015 if he burns the same amount of fuel as in 2014 and  the price stays $2 a gallon less than he paid last year. By his calculation, it would appear the operator purchased about 200,000 gallons of Jet-A. Depending on the aircraft, you could say that was four ag-planes logging about 1,000 hours each. Or, it could be eight ag-planes logging 500 hours each; assuming 50 GPH average fuel burn. Any way you make the calculation, a $400,000 windfall is huge, even for this large operator.

If that operator had been charging a fuel surcharge and does not in 2015, then he shouldn’t expect to profit $400,000. I guess that would be a plausible argument to not charge a fuel surcharge. But, only if you don’t count how much money that was lost in previous years by not charging a fuel surcharge.

The point in all this is a flying service should not be figuring on fuel prices to make a profit, whether it be an inflated fuel surcharge or a significant overall drop in fuel costs. Ag operators are not fuel brokers. Pricing should be based on multiple factors that allow for increases in fuel costs, as well as a savings to the customer by reduced fuel costs. The calculation will never fit perfectly. In most cases, over time, there will be gains and losses because of fuel prices regardless of how invoices are written.

That’s my two-cents worth; much like a saying, “The advice you get here is worth what you paid for it”. Nothing! In the meantime, I am immensely enjoying filling up my truck with gas for under $40.

Until next month, Keep Turning…

The obvious

It is Thursday morning in Louisville, Kentucky. I am in my hotel room writing this editorial after a bustling two trade show days at the NAAA 48th annual convention. Everyone I spoke with about the convention, attendees and exhibitors, were pleased with the show. I know AgAir Update’s booth had a steady stream of visitors, and our cameras had an ongoing audience of smiling faces. 

Of those operators I talked with about their season, most had an average year. Some were a little off and a few did better than in previous years. I have found that when an operator has several good, or extraordinarily good seasons back to back, then a normal season seems to be “off”, or slow; the excellent year becomes the norm. 

One or two operators told me they had not attended an NAAA convention in several years. For some, as many as 10 years had gone by without attending. They admitted the industry is in a transition, a good one. A new generation of pilots are coming in, along with technology that is hard to keep up with, particularly for those “baby boomer” pilots. The new and younger generation do not seem to struggle with the challenges of evolving technology. However, the ag airplane still requires a talented pilot that even the best technology can’t replace. I hope we do not find ourselves in a techno-overload situation. 

If you have heard it once, you’ve heard numerous times before; winter is the time to complete all the squawks on the aircraft and ground support equipment that you have put off during the season. When I had a flying service in the last quarter of the 1900s, there was a distinct time when the season started and ended. Except for some early herbicide and fertilizer 911 work on wheat, most spraying didn’t start in Georgia until the ground temperature was high enough to plant. After a “killing frost”, you could say that year’s season was over. Today, this is hardly true for a growing number of operators, particularly those in the Southern states. This means it is just that much more important to prepare for next year at the very earliest opportunity. 

I know you will enjoy the January edition of AgAir Update. Be sure you read about this edition’s feature article about the Cascade Power Upgrade. Just as you can never have too much runway, you never have too much horsepower. The PT6A-42 engine is just the right amount of extra horsepower to make the AT-502 series aircraft a real performer under any conditions. 

Sometimes, the obvious eludes you. The turbine Thrush has been around for over 35 years. During those years, lead ballast was used to keep the aircraft within CG limits. Of course, this added extra weight (in most cases about 300 pounds) that was leveraged, affected the way the aircraft flew. Personally, I have always liked the way a Thrush flies. However, I like the way the H80 flies without the ballast a lot better. Guess what? There are now two companies, Cascade Aircraft Conversions and Turbines, Inc, that have designed a new turbine Thrush engine mount and changed the prop that eliminates the ballast. Such a great idea. I have not flown these two conversions, but plan to sometime in 2015. I will be sure to let you know how they fly. Like more horsepower, less weight is usually a good thing in an ag-plane. 

You will see Graham and me at many of the state shows this month. Please come by our booth and let’s talk ag-aviation! 

Keep turning…

  

Sitting in the lobby

During a recent trip to Long Beach, California to attend NAAA’s fall board of directors meeting, I was doing some writing in the hotel lobby. Someone walked up and asked could they sit down beside me. It was Bruce Hubler of Valley Air Service based in Idaho. With him was his pilot, Joe Coppick. “Sure,” I said. “Take a seat”.

“I bet you thought you’d come down here and get some work done and here we come along,” said Bruce. Well, not actually, I explained. If I had really expected to work, I’d have stayed in the room writing. However, I preferred the company of others. I went on to tell Bruce and Joe that the upcoming week would be the busiest of the year for AgAir Update and myself. I had approximately five days to crank out three editorials (Latin and Show Guide editorials and this one), along with no less than three articles, of which one was the cover story for November.

For me, writing is a labor of love, mostly labor. Not being a trained writer, I find it challenging to sit down to write; one of the more important and essential jobs I have at AgAir Update. Typically, I end up procrastinating until I am backed up against a pending deadline, then I go into overdrive. If I had flown my Thrush in the same manner, it would have taken no less than three aircraft to do the work of one!

If you are reading this, either online or holding the print edition, then you know I got it all done, despite putting off my duties until the last minute. The wintertime can become the same scenario for an ag-operator, maybe not so much for the ag-pilot. You just completed a stressful season, long days, very little rest and now it is over, for the most part. One of the last things you want to think about is getting ready for next season.

Think about it, you should. It will be much more practical for you to begin making those delayed repairs and updating equipment earlier than later. When you wait, you find yourself under pressure, again, to get the job at hand done and that often is not the best way to complete a task. I know, I deal with it every month, writing and meeting deadlines.

Back to the NAAA board meeting; as I was reading through the “board book”, a preparatory document for the meeting, I came upon a page with a list of names. It was the names of the then current board of directors for NAAA in its recently adopted Constitution and Bylaws, circa 1984. As I looked over the names, many dead and none any longer active in the NAAA, I came across one name that stood out, Bill Lavender. Gee, thirty years of attending NAAA board meetings with darn near a 100% attendance record for the spring and fall meetings. I think I missed one of each of those meeting in 1986.

When I think about the NAAA from those days and compare it to today, it amazes me how much has changed. I can say improved, but not without giving credit to those that came before the current board. Their wisdom helped to shape NAAA into an effective association of its peers. We in this industry of flying agricultural aircraft are fortunate to have the NAAA, a viable organization looking after the interests of all.

I did not intend to get into a pro-NAAA dissertation in my editorial. Remember, I am not a trained writer and this is where I ended up. Know, that without NAAA there would be no Professional Aerial Applicators Support System (PAASS), no annual convention, probably federal fuel taxes and who knows, maybe not even an industry, along with numerous other benefits provided by NAAA to our industry. I am not going to ask those of you who are not members to join. I shouldn’t have to!

Until next month,

Keep Turning…

 

Social media and Facebook

I have never really wanted to believe I was “old school”. However, there does come a time in your life when you have to accept the fact your thinking was formulated from another time, providing you live long enough. Those of us from an older generation of ag-pilots probably realize this most when we try to figure out something related to the Internet, or some new software on our computers. For me, one of those challenges has been the social media site Facebook. 

I am not a Facebook user for a couple of reasons, mainly that I don’t subscribe to displaying my life on the Net; the same reason I don’t Tweet. Of course, I am often told you only place what you want to be viewed and that I would ultimately control the situation. That makes me think of those who found themselves in a pickle from a Facebook post! 

Facebook is undeniably a fantastic communications tool and that is exactly why AgAir Update has a Facebook account (not me). I am grateful the industry as a whole does not feel the same way that I do about Facebook, otherwise, it would not be an effective communications tool. My son, Graham, is AgAir Update’s IT guy. He launched the AAU Facebook account a couple of years ago. He is very astute at not over posting, only data that is of interest at the time, nothing frivolous. Thirty days between print dates for AAU can be a long time when something important takes place. This is where Facebook is so useful; we can post information to the industry in a very timely manner.  

Since we launched AAU’s Facebook account in English, it has gotten a little over 4,200 Likes. For such a small industry, that is pretty good. Even more notable is last month, Graham created the AAU Brasil Facebook account and within four days, it had about 3,000 Likes. A month later, AAU Brasil’s Facebook Likes exceeded 6,300! What is going on here? 

There are 231 registered ag-aviation companies in Brazil with an estimated 1,900 ag-pilots, far less than the 6,300 Likes. Obviously, many more people than the number of pilots are in someway involved in Brazilian ag-aviation. It also points out how “in tune” Brazilians, as I have found in all of Latin America, are with social media and the Internet. Some of this is because the printed mail service is so poor and slow in Latin America, as a general rule. 

AgAir Update’s challenge is to stay relative for its newly acquired Likes on both of AgAir Update’s Facebook pages. Trust me when I say, “challenge” to manage these social media sites. It is not just dealing with the differences in languages, but also cultures. Ag-pilots in the U.S. are different than those in Brazil and other Latin American companies, yet we are all the same. There may seem to be a conflict in that statement, but not really. 

Ag-pilots worldwide generally have the same values and are all excellent pilots. They are motivated by the same things. I have no problem finding commonalities whether I am in South Africa, the South Pacific, Latin America or the U.S. Each geophysical location has its own culture, but all are still ag-pilots at heart. 

If you have not visited AAU’s Facebook page  www.facebook.com/agairupdate2, please do. You’ll find tidbits of information that will hold you over until you get the full story in print. Be sure that you “Like” us! 

Until next month, Keep Turning…

Don’t wire the dump handle closed

Last month, Graham and I made a trip north to visit an ag-operator in North Dakota and several advertisers in Minnesota. It was a good trip, taking about 15 hours of flight time over four days. One of the advertisers we visited was WinField, a division of Land O’Lakes cooperative. WinField is the manufacturer of a long list of adjuvants that provide drift control, surfactants, oils, water conditioners and utility uses (defoamers, colorants, ph adjust, etc.). The company is not new to the adjuvant business. However, only recently has it begun to market its products to the aerial applicator.

During our visit with WinField, two points were very notable. First, WinField takes a different approach to working with the aerial applicator than some other chemical retailers who provide aerial application services. It desires to partner with the aerial applicator and the chemical retailer to provide a complete service to the grower. Second, WinField has undoubtedly one of the most sophisticated research facilities in the nation, based in River Falls, Wisconsin. Here, the company has several acres of test plots as well as a wind tunnel for testing nozzle configurations. This particular wind tunnel is for ground applications, but much of the research is applicable to aerial applications. For aerial-specific research, WinField partnered with BASF and the University of Nebraska Lincoln to help sponsor the aerial wind tunnel in Nebraska. This wind tunnel is capable of replicating aerial applications for research.

Our host while at WinField was Tony Goede. Many readers will remember Tony from when he worked at BASF. Now, Tony is leading WinField’s entry into the ag-aviation business as its aerial point person. Tony is who you will see in the field and meet at the trade shows. Compared to some of us that have been in the ag-aviation business for decades, Tony is relatively new at this game; but, I have found out that he knows his stuff.  

Planes: Fire & Rescue was released in movie theaters last month. It grossed over $18 million its first weekend. I took my eight-year old grandson to see it. I needed “authoritative” feedback before I passed judgement on the movie. My reaction, overall, was for the extensive effort made to be realistic, several key points were missed; pontoons were referenced instead of floats, scooping (only three times in the movie) made flying vertical up a waterfall and overwhelming fire storms. But hey, it’s a cartoon. I tend to forget that, thinking Planes: Fire & Rescue was created to present SEAT ops in a greater and more heroic light.

I suppose for the general public, they would be less skeptic of the movie and believe at least part of the it; that aerial firefighters, and firefighters as a whole, are heroes. They do risk their lives, albeit in a professional and well-calculated manner, not quite as recklessly as Dusty Crophopper.

You know, what I think doesn’t matter. It was the wholehearted endorsement of my eight-year old grandson that proved the Disney folks were right on target with their target audience. If the SEAT and firefighting industry benefitted from it, all the better. Go see Plane: Fire & Rescue with an open mind and enjoy!

On a closing note, my graphics person, Deborah who has been with AgAir Update for over 20 years, pointed out that it seemed an inordinate number of Part 137 accidents reported by the NTSB where the aircraft ended up off the end of the runway after takeoff. I read through the reports and to the credit of the pilots, a significant number of the accidents were mechanical related, e.g. power loss.

It pays to hitch up your pants on every takeoff, thinking 100% about what to do if there is a power loss. The biggest asset an ag-pilot has is the dump handle. Don’t be afraid to use it. Dump and sort it all out later. If you crash the aircraft, the contents in the hopper are lost anyway.

Taking off in a twin engine aircraft is obviously not the same as with an ag-plane. The exception is, both of these pilots must be acutely aware of the consequences of a loss in power. I never depart in our Baron that I don’t go over a contingency plan for losing an engine during takeoff. Something as simple as: “When the hand is on the throttles during roll out, kill both engines in an emergency. If the hand has moved to the gear handle and retracted the gear, fly the aircraft.” It is not always that “cut and dried”, but the point is to clear your head and be ready for the unexpected. I have heard all too often the turbine engine doesn’t quit. And, it normally does not, which causes a degree of complacency. Believe me, a turbine engine will quit. I have had two different ones do it and both times were during takeoff.

Until next month,

keep turning…