by Jim & Pam Jeffries
Jeffries Airworks
IOWA, LA — Confidence was obviously one thing not lacking in this rather large and somewhat intimidating man seated behind the desk. He was listening to a voice on the phone in his ear and at the same time his eyes followed me as I crossed the floor of his office daring me to be a problem in his already crowded day.

His name is Zoren O’Brien. The first time I entered his domain in Iowa, Louisiana I had the distinct feeling I had better present myself well and spit out exactly what is was I wanted. The presence this person behind the desk projected was one that told me I wouldn’t have a second chance.

Zoren is owner and operator of O’Brien Flying Service, Inc., was indeed on first encounter, all business. Until he got to know you and what you were all about there was little kidding around. Who were you…what did you want…how much was it going to cost…how much was it going to save him. You better have answers.

Once he got to know you, if you were lucky, the mood could change drastically, More friendly with indeed a warm personality and an extremely dry wit. If he didn’t like or respect you it was not something you had to wonder about. If he was only one thing, it was brutally honest. But, Zoren O’Brien has turned out to be much more than that as I have learned over the years.

Zoren flew his early years with Harrison in Pearsall, Texas in D Model Snows and B1A Call Airs. He worked rice for Morgan Crop Service in Lake Charles flying 600 hp Stearmans converted to ag planes. Zoren flew four years with Hollingsworth flying Ag-Cats in Cleveland, Mississippi and three more years for Jack Shannon in Clarksdale, Mississippi. These years and varied locations provided Zoren quite a good education and background in the aerial application business.

In 1972 O’Brien started his own business in Iowa, Louisiana with three 600 Ag Cats and a lot of guts. He built his own strip and hangars. He started out with an ultra conservative philosophy of business and has kept that philosophy all through the years. He has had as many as 13 aircraft at one time and that was during a period of high interest and debt, but he worked his way through it and came out the other side. He tried other aircraft up to 1400 horsepower, but has always returned to the 600 B Model Ag Cat. That’s the best plane for overall use in the market his company serves.
O’Brien Flying Service is one of the few ag aviation companies in the world that can see the benefit of sticking to the radial engine bi-plane, while his neighbors and others throughout the country use mono-wing and turbine-powered aircraft. With O’Brien’s unique plan to remain solvent in aircraft ownership and the need for a reliable ag-plane that can work from short and rough strips in Louisiana, the 600 hp Ag-Cat fills the bill.

O’Brien Flying Service is a rice operation, for the most part. About 80-85% of all the work is dry work, mostly on rice in the lower regions of Louisiana. Although, there are some applications on soybeans, sugar cane and winter pasture.

O’Brien now has seven planes and loader trucks to serve each one of them. The company has enough spare parts ready and waiting to repair his entire fleet if it was necessary, another advantage of running a like-kind fleet. And all those planes, equipment and spare parts are paid for…no debt. His company is self-insured other than liability. He has surrounded himself with competent and loyal pilots and mechanics that give him 110 percent.

Zoren is ever present within his business. If he is not there in person manning the telephone while wife Joan writes the checks and keeps the books, then he is available by radio or telephone from wherever he is located. It could be from his truck out checking fields or talking to the farmers he serves. It could be from Washington, D.C. or Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he could be meeting with legislators pushing for improvements and protection of this industry that is so close to his heart.

Yep, Zoren O’Brien has a heart, and a big one at that. He not only cares deeply for his family and his close friends and employees, but he cares for the aerial application business.

O’Brien worries about a lot of his fellow ag operators across the country, especially the ones who have several high-dollar turbine airplanes and a lot of big bank notes that go along with those planes most times.

“What are they going to do if the bottom falls out?” he questions. “ How will they make the notes?”

Where is the business going in the future we asked Zoren. “I think you will see fewer operators and those operators that survive will have multiple aircraft…less numbers of operators, but each operator will have more aircraft.” he said.

“Fuel?…Lord knows what! There has been tremendous increases in the costs of fuel and I only see it going higher!”

“Insurance? Ten per cent per year increase in hull insurance…it’s going to put the ag aviation industry in a position where we are going to have to charge a fee that will put us in jeopardy with ground rig operations. That’s the greatest danger in our industry today,” said O’Brien, “…that and a apathetic attitude toward out business…not being active.”

And what does he mean by being active in the associations? He means belonging to the state and the national, himself serving as NAAA and LaAAA presidents and board of directors of both associations. Members should keep abreast of the proposed changes to the laws that can hurt the industry; call and write your state lawmakers and the people in Washington. “There’s enough people in the agricultural areas of the country to get the attention of the legislators,” said O’Brien.

Zoren’s devoted wife of 43 years, Joan, is also extremely active in the women’s state and national organizations, serving as president of both LaAAA and WNAAA. How did she meet the big man? It was 1961…Liberty, Texas. Zoren was home from military, a member of the 101st Airborne 501st Battle Group of the Army. Joan said he had big blue eyes, a uniform and a boat with a motor to ski behind. And that is where it began.

Where will it end? The O’Brien’s only have plans for continued involvement in this industry. A son, Dwayne, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He will climb back in the seat of an Ag-Cat after his military interruption! “Zoren loves this business so much,” says Joan…”and I know he will always have to be a part of it somehow.” So, retirement must not be in the cards.

O’Brien will always have to be a kind of guardian for the aerial application industry. Look at just a few of the things he has been involved in over the years. When a member of the LAAA or the Association needs help, Zoren has always been there to lend a hand. He has done the same for the NAAA and its membership. His outstanding record of service includes:

LAAA President 1989 – 1990
Appointed LAAA Director to NAAA 1992
NAAA Falcon Club Award 1993
Elected NAAA Treasurer 1994
Elected NAAA President 1995
Outstanding Service Award 1995
Farrell Keahey Memorial Award 1998

Zoren was instrumental in the establishment of the Zeneca Leadership Training Program. He also was instrumental in setting up committees headed by Neils Andrews of California, which resulted in the establishment of the PAASS program.

In 1995, Zoren, with the help of the NAAA Board, set up a cash emergency reserve for the NAAA. Over the years, he has worked on many important issues for the LAAA. One of these was the reduction of the Workers’ Compensation Classification Code for aerial applicators from an ultra hazardous occupation to a lower class. Zoren also worked with the Department of Transportation to allow for the loader truck driver to get a seasonal commercial driver’s license waiver. He has served on the committee, which helped establish the Governor’s Aviation Advisory Commission, which has helped in stopping discrimination practices against Louisiana aerial applicators, and he currently serves as a member of the Louisiana Advisory Commission on Pesticides. Zoren has worked diligently with other members of the industry nationwide in an effort to get law makers pass bills that would require cell phone towers and the like to have adequate markings for pilots.

He has won nearly every award that is given. He always answers the call by the association, state or national, whenever it is given him. He is and always has been a powerful voice in defending the business. Lewis Broussard took O’Brien’s place as LAAA Director for Louisiana when Zoren stepped down voluntarily after 11 years. Broussard said of his friend, “if I was in a foxhole fighting in a war, I would want Zoren O’Brien at my side.”

I spent several hours with the O’Briens watching and listening. There was no doubt as to the personal devotion Joan O’Brien had for her husband and her own dedication to the aerial application industry. After we talked, Zoren picked up a wrinkled bag of Levi Garrett chewing tobacco and stuck a wad in his jaw. Sauntered off across the parking area toward the shop to check on things. He stopped along the way and looked off into the Louisiana sky for a long moment. And then he started moving again waving orders to a truck driver and a pilot. Just a brief absence from the never ending office phone and the business he loves.