CAA: GA News, "Cropdusters ready for a return to the skies"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Cropdusters ready for a return to the skies 
By Scott Welton 
The Daily Dunklin (MO) Democrat

 
SIKESTON - Area residents can expect to once again see the familiar
yellow planes swooping low over crop fields as another season of
cropdusting kicks off. 

If they make you feel a bit nervous this year, you are not alone - but
you can relax. 

"I realize the general public is afraid of us," said Dennis McGarity of
McGarity Flying Service. McGarity estimated he is one of about 30
cropdusters in Missouri. "Most of them are right here in the Bootheel." 

McGarity, a 27-year veteran in the field, said he and his fellow
cropdusters have been doing their best to keep the public informed about
what they do so they're not so concerned about agricultural flying
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

While air security is tighter all around, the FBI does not consider
cropdusters to be a threat, McGarity said. 

Experts have said the spreaders used by cropdusters would be poor
distributors of anthrax. Additionally, most cropdusters in operation
today are turbo-prop tail-draggers with the torque of a World War II
fighter plane. "The average guy is not capable of flying these
airplanes," McGarity said. 

McGarity said many of the private pilots he shares airports with are
excellent pilots, "but they can't start to fly one of these spray
planes." He compared it to an average car driver trying to operate an
18-wheeler. 

Agricultural flying has changed a lot over the years, McGarity said, and
requires a high level of skill and professionalism. 

McGarity and his peers have tried to downplay the old "barnstormer"
image of cropdusting that has followed them over the years. "We're just
regular people," he said. 

While somewhat more aerobatic than most other flying, the tight turns
and low passes executed by cropdusters are all required for the job and
are routine for the pilots who make their living flying them. 

"We don't consider it to be any more dangerous than any other way of
making a living," said McGarity, although "it's not for someone who's
weak at heart." 

But with modern spray planes costing approximately $1 million each,
McGarity said, they can't afford to take unnecessary risks. 

The name "cropduster" itself is not really even accurate anymore,
McGarity said, as pesticides are delivered through different mediums in
modern agriculture than in the days of early flight. "Now we don't do
any dust," said McGarity. "It's all granulated materials." Most working
"cropdusters" have probably never even spread dust, McGarity said. 

"For a while we tried to be called 'aerial applicators,'" McGarity
recalled. They pretty much gave up that fight, however, when President
Bush managed to call them cropdusters a half-dozen times in three
minutes in one of his post-Sept. 11 speeches. 

Additionally, spreading pesticides over fields are just one of several
materials distributed by spray planes. 

Using either a dry or liquid spreader, spray planes spread everything
from seed to fertilizer faster than other methods and with incredible
accuracy. 

"The equipment is so much better than it used to be," said McGarity. "We
have the best equipment on earth to ensure we do the very best job we
can for area growers." 

Using a small flat screened monitor and keypad in the cockpit, McGarity
and other modern high-tech cropdusters are able to use Global
Positioning Systems for precise positioning and computer-controlled flow
to deliver exact amounts of their load on target. "We try to stay within
about three feet," said McGarity. 

McGarity and about a dozen pilots will check and calibrate their
dry-spreading equipment Saturday at Malden "for the optimal spread and
so it's a uniform spread," McGarity said. 

Area spray pilots will gather again April 13 to set their liquid
spreaders in warmer weather when there is no risk of lines freezing up. 

"Every time we get new equipment we check this stuff out pretty close,"
McGarity explained. "It's a degree of professionalism on our part."

Attached Photo:

Eddie Adams, Senath Aviation, checks out the plane he uses for aerial
spraying of agricultural crops in the area.

local-crop-duster.jpg