by Bill Lavender

Another year, come and gone. Where does the time go? The last year of the millennium has been an interesting one. For some, the season was less than perfect, but for many, if not most, it was at least an average year. This time each year, I like to look back over the last eleven months and recollect the stories featured on the covers of AgAir Update. Follow me, beginning with the top left cover shot clockwise, as we progress through 1999.
January began with a wonderful photo shot of Northstar Aerial Spray’s AT-502 making an early morning application in Clara City, Minnesota piloted by Bryce Orwick. The use of the Air Tractor’s night lights and AgAir Update’s special effects, made for a great cover to start off the new year.
February began with a human interest article about Bailey Flying Service in Dalhart, Texas. Two AT-602s are flying in formation, heading out for another application job on the high plains of northwest Texas. It’s not a “wing walkers” job.
March gave me the opportunity to fly Delta Turbines’ work horse of a Dromader. With the Memphis skyline in the background, the TPE331-12UA AlliedSignal powered M-18B is on heck of a site on the March cover. I must admit, that Sunday afternoon I had the experience of a lifetime while flying the evaluation flight for the article. Space is too short to go into detail, go dig up your March issue and reread my flight in the Big Dromader.
If my flight in the Dromader was memorable, I’m sure that Dugan Robinson of El Centro, California realized the flight of his lifetime when he swapped rides in Stoker Company’s dual cockpit Ayres Turbo Thrush with the Blue Angels’ F-18 Hornet. You don’t find an ag plane alongside such a ship as the Hornet in real life, like on the cover of the April issue. But, this was a real life event, for the ag aviation industry, Dugan Robinson and the F-18 pilot, Keith Hoskins.
No, it’s not an ag plane, but the pilot on the front cover of AgAir Update’s May issue most assuredly is one of the finest ag pilots and air show performers in the history of aviation, Wayne Handley. Many an ag pilot has sat many hours behind the reliability of the PT6 engine. To see one outfitted to an acrobatic craft and flown deservedly by an ag pilot, deserves the ink of the May issue.
Unfortunately, after its crash in Salinas, California in October of this year, the Oracle Turbo Raven will not be at the NAAA Convention and Exhibition in Reno as originally scheduled. But, thank the good Lord, Wayne is with us and will be in Reno.
Center page, it is none other than a fine example of the rotor wing portion of the agricultural aviation industry in the June issue, with Jim Pankratz flying his OH58 across a field in Calipatria, California; 186 feet below sea level! Farm Air Service has been a part of the ag aviation industry since the days that its founder, Wally Pankratz ran the show and he was affiliated somewhat with Leland Snow. However, Farm Air isn’t partial to helicopters, when the company has both fixed-wing (Turbo Thrush) and ground machines; a versatile company operating in a versatile southern California valley.
In July, the summer spraying season is in full swing north of the equator. But, our ag aviator friends south of the equator in South Africa are busy readying their aircraft with Ag Tips winglets. For July’s cover story, Orsmond Aerial Spray organizes an evaluation of the Ag Tips winglets with a South African consulting firm after installing them on one of the company’s Ayres Turbo Thrush. Orsmond Aerial Spray liked the winglets so much, they are now the South African dealer for Ag Tips.
In the August edition, it is another quick read from south of the equator with a PT6-powered Cresco gracing the cover. The Aussie company, Superair of Armidal, Australia, operates the turbine-powered Cresco spreading fertilizer in western New South Wales.
September’s issue featured one of Downstown Aero’s FireCats hard at work over New Jersey woodland. Although September is not typically the fire season in the northeast, this year’s drought brought about conditions for a potential fire outbreak. Being on standby for a fire was a bonus for the eleven FireCats in the otherwise drought stricken region.
It has been turbines and radials, but October’s cover of the Gippsland GA200 is a reminder to the ag aviation industry worldwide, there is a place for all kinds of ag aircraft. Albeit this ag plane is small on horsepower, it makes up and differences in performance. The aircraft is manufactured in Australia, but market worldwide. AgAir Update’s evaluation flight took place in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. The GA200 is a testament to the benefits of paying attention to aerodynamics and getting the most return for the horsepower.
AgAir Update’s November issue brings ag aviation Air Tractor’s, Transland’s and AeroFlow Systems’ answer to applying high volume from an AT-802. Covering 21 acres per minute while in flight, the AT-802 needed the huge four-inch pump provided by Transland and the high flow rates of the drip-proof AFS check valves to obtain an 18 gallons per acre application rate. Never let it be said the ag aviation industry doesn’t answer the call when it comes to technological know how and ingenuity.
With this December issue of AgAir Update, it brings to a close the second millennium. The world has accelerated to an unimaginable pace, with changes every day. Ag aviation has not been an exception. Not even a century old, the industry has moved from the most primitive of aircraft and application techniques, to the most sophisticated turbo-prop powered craft guided by signals over 22,000 miles away. Although none of the original ag pilots of yesteryear are with us today, many undoubtedly saw the development of ag aviation astound them during their lifetime.
It doesn’t hardly seem possible these advances in productivity, safety, and equipment can continue. However, with the turn of the century and the new millennium, the pilots of today can rest assured, the future will take on a different twist. The new technology will come in the form of pilot attitudes and precision application techniques. Not to say the aircraft won’t continue to advance, but to say the focus will shift to prepare the pilot to handle the advancements. See you in the next millennium!