mikenfl
4th Dec 2005, 03:37
Hi, I'd like to pose a few questions to those of you involved in AG aviation in the U.S.. I'm giving some consideration to leaving my fairly secure job with the U.S. Postal Service, to move back into the world of professional aviation; specifically AG. (yes...I lost my mind a long time ago :8 ) I'm curious how a potential employer would view a new AG school graduate with my (ahem) experience. My stats are: 48 years old, former CFI SEL, less than 600 hrs. TT, 125 hrs. tailwheel, 390 hrs. PIC. Ok, here comes the good part....I haven't touched the controls of an airplane in 12 years. :eek:
I know I couldn't just step back in like I'd never been away; it would take quite a while to get myself back up to speed. But, if I did, how would you rate my chances of getting a seat? I didn't get out of flying because I didn't love it. That course change involved family and financial considerations which have since changed.
Anyway, your brutal honesty would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
SNS3Guppy
4th Dec 2005, 15:41
Mike,
The ag industry is a tough nut to crack for a new pilot. Especially today. Fewer smaller entry level type aircraft exist on which to cut your teeth, and few if any operators are going to put a new inexperienced pilot in a turbine powered aircraft.
We had a pilot approach us for a job last year. He had something like 700 hours of tailwheel time, all in his own homebuilt airplane, and twenty five hundred or so total. We asked him about experience in ag aircraft, for our insurance. He didn't have any, but after speaking with our insurance, we found that if he could get a few hundred in a pawnee or agtruck, we could get him on the insurance. He found a job towing a glider in an agtruck. On his third landing, the owner asked him to do a wheel landing, and he destroyed the aircraft. He later said he didn't know how to wheel land. He also said the accident shouldn't count against him because he wasn't technically employed in the airplane, and it was the owner's fault for asking him to do a wheel landing.
From that example, you can see that experience in terms of numbers, especially low numbers, doesn't mean much. When I talk to you face to face, I'm concerned weather you're even insurable (not my decision), and second, weather you can fly and not hurt my airplane, or my business. If you can convince me of both, you have a chance.
It's for that reason that most hiring in the ag business is done face to face, not off a resume sent from afar.
I'm curious about your flight experience. You have about six hundred hours, but only 390 pilot in command. What were you doing for the other 210 hours? At that low an experience level, you shouldn't be showing hardly anything but PIC...and some instruction received. A third of your time is something else...what is it?
Don't believe the claims of many ag schools that by dropping a few thousand with them and putting twety hours in their ag airplane, you are insurable, or employable.
I started flying ag out of high school with a fresh commercial, so yes, it can be done. But that was a long time ago, and it was also based on the fact that I went the old fashioned route, and all my flying experience from day one was ag related in one form or another. I say the traditional route, because I started flagging, working on the airplanes, loading chemical, driving a tractor, and then flying the airplane, spraying rinsate, doing very low gallonage work, small fields, and little by little worked into being employed.
You may know someone who can give you a job, and that's okay too, if you take a very careful approach. Today, few operators want to let you touch their aircraft without satloc experience, and herbicide work is the holy grail of insurance...without herbicide experience and a good solid working understanding of drift potential, you face an uphill road to getting someone to let you risk their business by giving you a chance. It only takes one good drift claim to shoot the season's profits or put an operator out of business, and the profit margin in ag is razor thin.
Don't be discouraged from trying, but remember that there are many avenues in aviation...consider them all. You may need to get a little more total experience and get back into the flying game first...perhaps a season towing banners in conventional gear airplanes would be a good refresher for you after 12 years of not flying.
You won't have forgotten as much as you think.
Then again, a lot has changed, such as technlogy and airspace.
Visit as many operators as you can, in person, and get their viewpoint, face to face. In this business. there is no other way.