In My Opinion

I am writing this editorial reflecting on my wonderful trip to Brazil in August to do some much needed fishing and attend the SINDAG conference. Every trip to Latin America I have made has been very gratifying, and the one I made in August was no exception. It started with...

Most ag plots in the northern hemisphere are entering a time of increased fatigue. Some have already entered this phase, but still many are just starting. I know that everyone is aware of the insidious effects that fatigue is famous for: falling asleep in a turn or becoming inordinately absentminded,...

via https://www.saultstar.com/ A provincial initiative to limit the impact of a destructive insect is expected to wrap up its operations in Cochrane this week. A fleet of 15 aircraft — including 13 aerial application planes and two control aircraft — has been fly- ing regularly out of the Cochrane Airport...

After 54 years of various type flying, navy carrier pilot, corporate pilot, ag-pilot and CFII, retired I am content to sit on my porch on the edge of the Mississippi Delta have a cold adult beverage and listen to those beautiful ag-engines (especially round engines). I thank God that I...

When I was in high school and college, on weekends and sometimes during the week, we would have a friendly (usually) poker game. Often times we would play “Boo Ray.”  Boo Ray is a five-card gambling game that I am sure must have originated in south Louisiana amongst the Cajuns....

Many, many years ago when I was flying old Grumman S-2E Trackers off the USS Randolph then the USS Yorktown, there was a general policy that no one ever walked through the arc a propeller would make, even, of course, while the engine is not running (duh!).   In 1970,...

It was around 12:30 PM, September 13, 1971 (not a Friday), when I rolled my Pawnee up in a ball and spent the next four months in the burn unit at Fort Sam Houston Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. I had been a Navy carrier pilot, and was trying...

It has been suggested to me by another ag pilot friend that I write about some of the safety-related items that we teach.  A lot of this will be “old hat” to many of you or maybe more like “preaching to the choir.” I have been asked on several occasions,...

I was fifteen years old and had my driver’s license for three, maybe four months. It was summertime 1955.  I was a loader boy for Mr. Jimmy MacPherson (Jimmy Mac) owner of Mac’s Flying Service, a crop dusting service, not an aerial application business. We were located at Huggins Corner...

We all know of some ag pilots who make hammerhead turns, and maybe you are one of those who do make these hammerhead turns. It is my contention that those ag pilots who continue to make turns like this, will one day not be able to pull out of the...