Are Cropdusters Crazy? InTheHangar Ep 131 

I’m one of the guys who started without any family in the business. It’s a great job and I enjoy it. I am a CFII in the off season and the job gives me material to help when teaching students.

I spent the last 20 plus years as a mechanic and loader! The pilots have the tough job! It is hard work!

Ag is where my heart is. I’ve got A little over 3000 hours spraying, never in a turbine. It’s been all in a Cessna 188. Back then somebody would always say at an airport I made three landings today or 10 this month” I will just laugh because that’s generally about 10 landings before 2 PM for us. Btw they make a tandem two seater in the at802.

Just to weigh in on training....I've been fortunate enough to be trained by arguably one of the best ag pilots in the business. It has consisted of 40 hours of piston spray training In the ONLY two seat side by side pistons spray planes in the world, which gave me tail wheel time and real time spray practice and one on one tuition. This included a few hours of solo time in a Pawnee, that season I flew 250 hours in a Cessna 188 Ag Truck and have this year just completed my Turbine transition in a AT 504 with the same school. For those considering it, I cannot stress enough tye value of that one on one real time instruction with a load and highly recommend you look at Battleford Airspray, in Saskatchewan, Canada.

I think ag flying just takes a certain personality. Some might call them crazy, but they're usually damn good pilots.

My favorite quote is, "don't get in a hurry, the aircraft is fast so you don't need to hurry."

My dad has 13,000 hours starting with an Ag Cat and now in an AT-802. Multiple off-airport landings over the years and has never torn an airplane up. He’s 79 now and still flying in NE La…trying to get the Aerial Application publication to do a story on him. Best pilot I’ve ever known.

The ONLY aviation in the small town I grew up in was Ag flying! Started my life-long love of aviation.

Yes, they are crazy. You have to be to do a job every day where one wrong move could end your life. But you also have to love what you do, be extremely passionate about it, and be very skilled at it. Don't let the humbleness of these guys fool you, they are bad asses. My dad only told me about three or four of his mishaps throughout his 39 years. I suspect he had several dozen more that were worse. In terms of flying in general, I trust no other type of pilot over a crop duster to bring me back down safely. Much respect.

Our family farmed wheat when I was a kid. One day we were watching an Ag Cat spraying a field when the pilot hit an unmarked powerline that was stretched over the field. The line snapped and arched to the ground while wrapping around the plane. The pilot powered through and got loose but was trailing a whole bunch of black smoke. We went to the airport and took a look at the plane. Lots of damage to the plane. Guy had skill and a little luck on his side that day. The power company installed orange balls after that.

Nice interview you two. Btw, Scott Palmer has some pretty cool videos on his journey into crop spraying.

Huge respect to these guys! That is one heck of a flying job. Great episode, Dan, Christy, & crew! 😎

I used to watch them as a kid but back then it was mostly Tiger Moths, occasionally Austers and then Pawnees. Times have changed (plus I grew up in the UK)

Not sure if you've seen Jason Sneed doing his dusting work but he has quite a lot of cockpit video - really shows what is involved. Great episode guys... those pilots really do have skills. (Haven't seen your last video re the mid air - but saw Juan brown's summation and it sure was incredible result).

I'm loving the 2 videos per week! Watching those guys is fascinating and heart stopping at the same time, they deserve lots of respect.Great and informative interview.

This video has been fabulous. It helps to remove some of the mystery behind it. I will look at you guys differently after this.

Dream job! There's a couple of dusters based at where I work in kgyi, and I swear I saw the same guy at my home an hour away. I'd LOVE to do this! I'm only a student at the moment though. When I was doing pattern work one of them coming in was nice enough to spray a bit to tell me where he is :)

Thanks Guys. Good work 🦅

More... ! Thank you ;) fly safe

Ag flying always looks really exciting!

So nice to see people who are proud of their profession and work hard at being excellent at it. Very interesting episode and now have a lot of respect for all that goes into crop dusting. I've always wondered if there was a computer program that could map out the most efficient way to mow my 2 acres with my lawn tractor. I would think there would be serious calculations for crop dusters as well. Maybe, though in crop dusting it is safer to use the system you are most comfortable with (racetrack vs. back to back) instead of complicated patterns just to save 9 minutes. As Christi said, could have listened to "close call" stories for another hour. Thanks.

Awesome episode:)

One of the best episodes so far. You really could have spent an hour or more on this one. Crop dusters really are cut from a different bolt of cloth and I mean that in the most positive way. I have often wondered what the individual reactions would be to put a fighter pilot in the seat of an Ag pilot and vice versa. Thankful you had a couple of West texas pilots to interview as I would put their skill set up against any. Lots of wires, sprinklers, poles sticking up out of no where, wind and on and on! Jacob, you and I never met but I did check your Dads corn for a couple of years back in about 2013 or so. Have a safe and productive year!

This was a surprisingly good interview. When I saw the title, my thought was “This is going to be AWEFUL. They are just going to sit there and look at each other!” Living in Jackson MS, a few Mississippi Delta just so happen to be able 50 miles away. While building cross country time for instrument, I flew there often. The rule I was told was “When flying in the delta, just keep talking to those yellow birds. They will not talk back of course, but they hear you.” I’ve seen them land and take off in complete silence. The most I’ve ever gotten from one was a double mic click when I called final and he was holding for take off. Ha. But I do love to watch those guys work.

I remember an ag aviation school down in Tulare where I believe they used a Stearman for dual practice. Fitting because that field was an AAC training field in WW2- which used Stearmans. Back when I was checking out flight schools I visited one at a duster strip. I entered the hanger to see a man muttering profanities under his breath as he took a large hammer to his radial engined biplane to try to convince some part of the landing gear to straighten up after he had planted the plane into an orange tree. Saying something about his wife leaving him.... Wild! But I briefly spoke to him anyway, and he bragged about sending student pilots to SFO for their long cross country. Uh, no thanks! Even then SFO wasn't a great place for non-turbine general aviation. Needless to say the interview didn't instill much confidence in this fellow or his mental state at the time. But... I still somehow managed to maintain a lot of respect for the skill of ag pilots. Saw many on our farm I grew up on. They were at times the only way to be able to keep our crop good enough to make it to market. These folks have as much courage as they do skill!

Air Tractor - Olney, Texas ❤️

Awesome Video!!

Great video guys----Ag pilots are True pilots!!!

Met a young lady at the glider port I took some intro flights she was flying the tow plane getting lot of tail wheel time in they had her going non stop I watched her for an hour never shut the engine off. Mostly glider trainers just practicing pattern work so they would be back on the ground in less then a 5-6 minutes and they would roll out their landing right up to the tow plane rope sometimes they would line up 3-4 in a line. She would land over the top of them so all they did was roll up the next one hook the tow rope up off they went again. The tow plane was a PIper PA-25 Pawnee.

I was enrolled in flight school and was going to work with my uncle's ag service when my cousin was killed in an Ag cat. I was fired before before I ever flew.

Great episode. Thank you Dan and Christy, this was a cool topic. Ag pilots are very talented. Keep up the great work. 🤘🇺🇸🛩️

I learned in the mid 60s on a J3 and PA14. My instructor was a former NAVY AD pilot from Vietnam who was also a crop duster. We flew out of a crop dusting field that on a hot day you had to slid over the road to clear the pine trees at the end of the field. The man had skills, better skills than most anybody I ever flew with. I was not a natural pilot and Im sure I gave him a few brown spot moments. But he taught me things they do not attempt to teach today...which is why IMHO we have so many aircraft falling out of the sky. You are not born with the skills it takes to be a pilot but it helps if somebody will teach you and you have the skills to learn. Crop dusters are not crazy for the most part but they are very skilled and depend on those skills to make a living. Am I a crop duster today? No, but I did finish a military career and do occasionally still fly. I have to admit having just one eye makes it a little harder but when I worry about it I think of Willy Post and his accomplishments. One thing I believe you have to have is the fortitude to not panic when something goes wrong and the skills to overcome the problem...something I rarely see in today's general aviation pilots who are taught by schools that only want the money and are teaching pilots who only want the time so they can move on and be bus drivers.

Trent Palmer's (Flying Cowboys) brother Scott Palmer is an Ag pilot. He also has a You Tube channel (Just his name) with some cool video flying/spraying. I know the Grumman Ag Cat has a full cage for the pilot. In a crash they are somewhat protected, even if the "cage" separates from the rest of the airplane. I had a bunch of questions I would have loved to ask them, especially around the newer turbine platform. I'll catch one of them some time. LOL JMHO... --gary

Don't forget Thrush.

I think it would be fun. I would have to think low level flying would be the main practice point. No room for error down that low. Then the fact you are at max weight and 20 minutes later no wait. Like flying fire fighter loads. I am to old for it now but any type of flying is cool. I believe I would want to do a lot of aerobatic training before I did there job. Great youtube

Loading this year and hopefully flying next year

They dont do "Lazy Eights" most times. They do Teardrop Turnbacks, or Question Mark Turnbacks (Hook Turns) with power on climbs. A Lazy Eight its only a 180 that can displace you 300 400 feet away from the track you want to go back to. They do Turnbacks mostly, not Lazy Eights..

Hi Dan And Christy! A few things about this chapter: 1) many years ago, Piper (that´s for you Christy) poduced an AG plane called "Pawnee". Later on Piper sold that branch to an Argentinian company in the province of San Luis called "Chincul", who was the only alowed to manufacter that plane in all south america. 2) In south Texas is an Mex/Am CFI pilot called "Eddie" stationed in Edimburgh near by McAllen. He also has a YT chanell called "Eddie Aviation Services" in which he uploaded a few videos on learning to fly AG planes in northern Mexico in a specific school for that. His particular life story is very interesting, so I´d like to suggest you and your producers to contact him and may be schedull an interview. He also wrote a book called "Entendido" about pilot/ATC communications both in spanish and in english. I enjoied this chapter as all of the rest, and I´m waiting for more. As always, cheers to both of you from NE patagonia, Argentina.

There’s a ‘duster around here that has a Wasp Junior on it. Agcat 450/A I think.

Interviewing country folk is always a challenge 😂. Few words. Some of the most impressive videos on RU-vid are crop dusters in rolling terrain

There’s not a plane that goes by that I’m not straining my neck to see what it is and where it’s going. Then I have to find it in radar to see it’s path. No dusters where I am but when I see them I have to stop and watch in awe.

Well Christy... If you get furloughed again... there you have it. The prettiest Air Tractor Ag Pilot in the south!!! You would need some leggings that look like MSDS sheets.

There’s quite a difference between the speaking moments and music. Had to turn up volume to hear you guys talk and the music comes in and nearly blows my speakers.

Ag pilots have way above average stick and rudder skills of the pilot community. When watching aerial applicators, the general public will see drift from the smoker and often complain that spray is going places it shouldn't.

I wonder if Bryan offers Formation Crop Dusting Endorsements over the phone?

You can’t spell crazy without AG

"Are crop dusters crazy?" Yeah. Crazy Awesome. 😉

I am definitely one of those who had watched the crop dusters and daydreamed about being up there.

If you want to see actual crazy in action, do a search for ‘crop dusting at night’ and see what we Aussies get up to. There’s a few good videos to watch.

Locally here in the west valley of Phoenix AZ we use a Helo! He is Balsa, our fileds are on the west and south side of Luke AFB!

I'm honestly surprised the one guy you have in cockpit footage of doesn't wear a helmet. Not sure if the younger guy does. Watch Scott Palmer's "Day in the life" cropdusting video if you haven't seen it. Its incredible and he's a crazy BASE jumper and even he wears a helmet while cropdusting.

Racetracks are Turnarounds, not Turnback Turns. Racetrack patters use more time, but are safer turns.

"I'd love to do it. There is a huge demand for it. It's impossible to get started in because insurance is fucked" literally everything in aviation.

Crazy no. Dedicated in what they do and the way they fly yes. I don't know if it is the most dangerous type of flying, But it ranks up there really high. I think as dangerous or a good tie is those helicopter pilots who fly for Electrical lines and telephone lines. I think there is some freedom in that type of flying but I it is critical that you know where all the electrical lines are and be vigilant in checking weather reports. I don't watch many of the Agri-Pilots but I have watched Scott Palmer a few times. His brother is Trent Palmer Kit-fox experimental pilot and youtuber. Friends with Corey Robin and Mike Patey. All members of the Flying Cowboys.

Crazy? Not a prerequisite, but it helps.

Are Ag Pilots crazy? if you have to ask you have no business flying ag!