Questionnaire for ag pilots

[Avpro]

Dear Ag pilots,

I've got some questions about ag-flying in New Zealand and Australia if you have the time to answer:

How many hours do you fly on average per
- year ?
- month ?
- week ?

What limitations does your respective company and regulating authority (CASA / NZ CAA) impose on your allowed flight time, duty times and consecutive days of flying?

How many take-offs and landings might you do in a typical day?

Thanks in advance,

Avpro.

[maxspeed]

Aust regs

CAO 48.1.2

For Ag op's

1200hrs 365 days

170hrs 28 days

14 days on 1 day off

14hrs a day

[AT502]

Yeah, ditto to what maxspeed said.

take off / landings vary according to what sort of work you are doing.

Troup

[maxspeed]

Due to the nature of Ag work it is hard to give a figure of an "average" day, because the work is so varied, and like any thing involved in the rural sector you are at the mercy of mother nature, and also now that the aircraft are becoming larger it is reducing things a bit when you are having a quite period,but the figure of 170 hrs a month is quite common when doing seasonal work and in alot of cases alot more than that, as far as 1200 a year go in australia that figure would not be attained by alot of pepole on a regular basis, but in new zealand it mosy certanly is. Take off/landings is the one that has the most variables in it ie. weather you are spraying or doing solids (fertilizer) work also what capacity the machine is. Some examples would be, say if you are spraying broad acare work in say a AT 502 and you went all day you might do any thing from 15-30 loads. On fertilizer one example is when the boys used to take 502's up to Malaysia and 100+ loads a day was the go!
Any one got anything else?? what about you boys back in NZ, comments??:E

[skytops]

Disclaimer: I'm not an ag-pilot, and know very little about the industry. So please forgive me if I sound ignorant. But I do know that ag work is one-of-a-kind and requires a special kind of pilot, and that its as well developed and indoctrinated in this corner of the world as anywhere else in the world.

But, 170 hours a month!!! I'm flabbergasted. I'm not flabbergasted that pilots are capable of doing that many hours a month, but that they are allowed to. And also that they are allowed to fly for 14 consecutive days.

I fly small aircraft charter and on a good month might fly 50 hours, which is a full time job (although half of my job involves flying a desk in ops as well). I can imagine flying 100 hours a month if that was all I did - ie jump in the aeroplane and go, and then staight to the pub or wherever after landing. But surely ag pilots must have taxing duties other than the flying? And 14 hours flying allowed in a day!? I can imagine doing that one off. Perhaps twice in 2 days - but then how would you feel on day 3? Does that mean that an ag pilot is allowed is allowed to fly 12 14-hour days consecutively (12 x 14 = 168) and then 2 hours the next day (and then have to stay on the ground for 15 days)?
I'm not saying that that is likely to happen, as I'm sure ag pilots know what is safe and what isn't, but its the fact that it is legally allowed to happen that astounds me.

Again, I fly in a very different industry and don't know well the demands and limitations of ag-flying, but I can't help wondering why the regulations for flight and duty time are so much different to other categories of flying. I guess a lot of self-regulation occurs in the industry, which may be a good thing, but if a pilot is allowed to fly 170 hours in 28 days (or in fact even in 13 days!) then doesn't that leave open the possibilty of dangerous excesses in ag flying?

[Lowlevldevl]

Got section 48 of the CAO's open here now.
The 14 hour figure relates to duty time. Thats time at work whether flying or not.
Can't think of too many operations where you actually get to fly this many hours while you're at work though (helicopter mustering excluded).
170 hours a month is only a little over 6 hours a day.
Interstate truck-drivers and machinery operators every where would wonder what kind of wimp can't handle a 6 hour day.

[currawong]

Technically your 3 day limit is 44 hours, flying or duty.

The hours can be big, in bursts. If you stay legal. Bigger if you do not.

I suspect there will not be too many big houred Ag pilots in the current generation.

For the same reason as in the rotary industry.:yuk:

Hill country spreading can generate 200 ton a day.

Not so cropping work.

Spraying... dawn till dusk is for lightweights....

Hope this helps.