I want to be an ag-pilot someone please help

T

ted gilbertson

Guest
Getting past everyone here will call me crazy yes I know. I want to know how to become one. I have looked into a school and its quite pricey. I was told that in california most places do apprenticeships. Anyone know much about this? I need to know if there are any other options for than going to the flight trainning school.Has anyone trainned at ag flight in Georga?
 
i dont know a lot about the industry, but i think the only reasonable (cost-wise) way to get a seat is to become good friends with an operator, and be willing to do grunt work for a while while you work your way into the airplane.
 
ted gilbertson said:
Getting past everyone here will call me crazy yes I know. I want to know how to become one. I have looked into a school and its quite pricey. I was told that in california most places do apprenticeships. Anyone know much about this? I need to know if there are any other options for than going to the flight trainning school.Has anyone trainned at ag flight in Georga?
Click to expand...


Hi Ted, Yeah, I'd have to say that you are crazy.:smile: Just kidding. I have been doing ag work for thirty years.

I really dont know much about the requirements in California, nor do I have much info on the ag schools. I broke in with a local operator that was kind enough to take me under his wing so to speak, and I learned the business from him. In my opinion, it may be a better way to learn the business as you are at a real ag business every day seeing the inner workings. OJT if you will.

I would look for a REPUTABLE operator in your area and just go and talk to him(or her) and see if they might be interested in working with you. Of course, this means you are going to be the loader/washer/grunt, but in the end it will be well worth it. Eventually, you will do more flying than loading.

Ag aviation is a great job.

Good luck and let us know what you decide. Please remember to be VERY CAREFUL.

Agrinaut
 
As Tristan mentioned, I think we had this discussion recently, but I'll go ahead and second (third?) the other folks' comments on working your way up with a reputable operator. I worked for 3 summers on the ground crew for an aerial operator. I had hinted at the idea of getting my cert's to fly for him, but we never discussed it seriously. When I called him one January to tell him that I had taken another full-time job, and would not be able to be a grunt for him anymore, he said "Oh.. I thought you were going to come fly for me!?" DOH!!

You REALLY learn a lot about the business by working on the ground crew for a while. I could tell a HUGE difference between the pilots that had done some grunt work in the past and the guys that had bought their way into a seat. The latter were a pain to work with, were inefficient, and sometimes unsafe for everyone involved.

Ag Aviation definitely falls into the "pay your dues" category of careers. It has LONG hours and hard work, but it can be fun if you do it right, and you come away with some great stories to tell. ;)
 
CJones said:
Ag Aviation definitely falls into the "pay your dues" category of careers. It has LONG hours and hard work, but it can be fun if you do it right, and you come away with some great stories to tell. ;)
Click to expand...

In my very limited experience, I've found that to be the case with a lot of the jobs that are the most fun and give you the greatest feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. :)
 
I don't want to BE an ag pilot, but I would LOVE to go through the training... :yes:
 
Ted DuPuis said:
In my very limited experience, I've found that to be the case with a lot of the jobs that are the most fun and give you the greatest feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. :)
Click to expand...

ive been around ag pilots a bit, and have entertained the idea a few times. mostly just daydreaming, you know, think about making a living dusting during the day and flying beat up freight haulers through ice and tstorms at night.

but ive never imagined ag work as a 'fun' job. it seems like a really intense, exciting, focused job with small margins for error and large consequences for mistakes.

and borderpilot rocks.
 
tonycondon said:
ive been around ag pilots a bit, and have entertained the idea a few times. mostly just daydreaming, you know, think about making a living dusting during the day and flying beat up freight haulers through ice and tstorms at night.

but ive never imagined ag work as a 'fun' job. It seems like a really boring and monotonous, focused job with small margins for error and death as the consequence for mistakes.

and borderpilot rocks.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you, and if you want to fly Ag at day and freight at night, you better set up a lab to make crystal meth, cause you'll need lots of it.
 
hey, i said i was daydreaming, right? and yea, i suppose you'd have to sell crystal meth to actually make enough money to live.
 
tonycondon said:
hey, i said i was daydreaming, right? and yea, i suppose you'd have to sell crystal meth to actually make enough money to live.
Click to expand...

I think he meant you'd need to USE the meth to stay awake to do all that...


... but don't you love Henning's way of communicating? :smilewinkgrin:
 
SCCutler said:
I think he meant you'd need to USE the meth to stay awake to do all that...
Click to expand...

Short term you'd probably make a damn good pilot on meth. Problem is..it catches up to you.
 
A good friend of mine went to Flying Tigers for his training in early 2008. Bought a used Air Tractor 301 and did his first season spraying corn and bean fields in Iowa. Made pretty good money doing it, but he did have a couple close calls in this rookie first year of ag flying. Fortunately he filled up some of his bag of experience without emptying the bag of luck.
 
I second that! I think that the advice to get started with a local operation is still the best. Aerial application is a pretty cutthroat business where I am from and it might be good to get some experience mixing and doing ground crew before you go to an insurance company and ask them to insure you.

Insurance still seems to be the limiting agent in the business....

Bottom line: Talk to a local guy and get a feel for what the local situation is.

Let us all know what you find out, too!

--Matt
 
Last edited:
Talked to two companies in Iowa and they basicly told my the same as everyone here. It is a big risk taking on someone you don't know,and the best way to get in is to work your way into a seat. I was told that the training was a good Idea but companies are going to lose money on you due to insurance and lack of skill and are going to want to know you are worth putting the time into. So I don't know think I will do the training and find somewhere to learn the biz and not give up. If I don't expect much hopefully I won't be disappointed. I thank everyone for there advice and I will keep at it until I get where I want to be.
 
ted gilbertson said:
Talked to two companies in Iowa and they basicly told my the same as everyone here. It is a big risk taking on someone you don't know,and the best way to get in is to work your way into a seat. I was told that the training was a good Idea but companies are going to lose money on you due to insurance and lack of skill and are going to want to know you are worth putting the time into. So I don't know think I will do the training and find somewhere to learn the biz and not give up. If I don't expect much hopefully I won't be disappointed. I thank everyone for there advice and I will keep at it until I get where I want to be.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, who did you talk to in Iowa?
 
Best of luck, Ted. Based on your name, I can tell that you're a natural aviator, and before you know it will be doing aerobatics with 747s with 3 engines out with your eyes closed at night IMC. ;)
 
I dont remember who I talked to. I talk to two different people and they were super friendly. They all had good advice and gave me a good insight on the biz.
 
ted gilbertson said:
I dont remember who I talked to. I talk to two different people and they were super friendly. They all had good advice and gave me a good insight on the biz.
Click to expand...

Good deal. I was just curious who you talked to - I worked ground crew for an operator here in Iowa for 4 years, so I got to know most of the operators in the state. 99.9% of them are very friendly and easy to get along with. Glad you found some contacts in the biz.
 
Air exec inc and barts ag service were the two guys I talked to. I talked to either Air exec or aerial ag, can't remember, I think aerial ag was out of biz.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top