Anyone have experience as a ag pilot? In central illinois I see quite a few working the field near dad's place and that looks like fun.

I was interested once so I asked about it.



I was no longer interested after that

We have at least a couple here.      

From what I've learned, It's a thing you sorta have to be born into or have a very good connection.  

You need Experience to be insured, but you need to be insured before you can get hired.

I flew right seat on a Lockheed PV2 spraying grasshoppers about 35 years ago.
So to answer your question- no.

I worked for an ag sprayer outfit as a mechanic. Our pilot and another local pilot would fly all the way to Illinois to spray when the work slowed down nearby.

If you see a yellow Thrush with sugar beets painted on the winglets, I might know the pilot

My first summer out of high school and one summer during college I was a "summer time millionaire with a cardboard suitcase". That was 1967 and 69.

I flew a 135hp Super Cub with a Sorensen belly tank. The 69 season was near Pecos spraying low volume methyl parathion on big ass irrigated pima cotton. At the busiest part of that adventure I flew 176 hours in a little over five weeks, flying seven days a week. That old Super Cub carried enough fuel to fly from sun up to early afternoon and the low volume made the chemical go a really long way.

It was lonely living in a tiny one bedroom trailer house and getting up at 0430 to the be sitting in the airplane with the engine running waiting for enough day light to launch.

It's considerably different today with all the fancy equipment, turbine engines, air conditioned positive pressure cockpits, stereo, GPS instead of flaggers and semi-crash proof airplanes. I bet pilots carry their clothes in a fancy leather bag instead of a paper sack.

Seriously though, it can be hard and dangerous work if you aren't extremely careful. Getting in the business today requires lots of flight training and certification for the chemicals.

I grew up flying all the old tailwheel stuff so it was easier to break into the business then. When I had 2,000 hours probably less than 50 of it was in a nostril wheeled machine.

About 20-25 years ago a friend had a spray business, he had two airplanes. I was going to fly one occasionally when he needed help. My lack of single seat ag time made it too expensive insurance wise to even try to make it work.
Tough business to get into even with connections. Tough business to stay in for a career.

Every Ag pilot, I have been around, has all suffered from cancer. They all blamed the chemicals they were around.

Some hung out with nasty womenz.