Posted: 5/3/2025 2:14:49 AM EDT
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Trying to break into ag work. I live in North Idaho. Spent the last 17 years doing gov’t ISR contract work overseas. I’ve got an embarrassing amount of total and turbine time, but only 130 hours tail wheel. I took the Riggin Ag course a few years ago. Lost a long time job to the Covid Vax mandate and just can’t seem to catch a break for the last few years. Am I over qualified? Am I just too old? Is there something wrong with me? Shit, I’m getting a freekin’ complex at this point. Just drove 3,000 miles and handed out dozens of resumes. Help me Arfcom wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope. |
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I briefly looked into it when I retired from the military because it seemed like it would be fun. I quickly learned that it’s such a small market everything is word of mouth and who you know. The pay seemed lukewarm at best and it’s highly seasonal, so I didn’t pursue it. If you have thousands of hours why not do airlines or similar? The hiring boom just 2 years ago was crazy, I got an airline job offer without an interview and under 500 hours of airplane time. |
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Originally Posted By Morgan321: I briefly looked into it when I retired from the military because it seemed like it would be fun. I quickly learned that it’s such a small market everything is word of mouth and who you know. The pay seemed lukewarm at best and it’s highly seasonal, so I didn’t pursue it. If you have thousands of hours why not do airlines or similar? The hiring boom just 2 years ago was crazy, I got an airline job offer without an interview and under 500 hours of airplane time. That's awesome you got an offer without the interview. I'm just not an airline guy. |
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Originally Posted By Bushleaguepilot: King Air 350/MC-12, Skymaster and Caravan Should be some King Air jobs out there at any given time. Climb2 350 or propilotworld.com. PPW is run by professionals and it’s like Teams here, not GD. It’s worth the small fee to join and I have zero association with it other than a long term membership. C2 350 is just a huge jobs clearinghouse. Probably worth the money to get full access to posted jobs. ETA: There are Ag pilots on PPW. |
In America, the village idiots have organized.
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I tried to get a Ag Aviation career started 20 some years ago. I started taking classes in State University that claimed to have a Ag Aviation degree program. It was a Midwestern traditional AG school that also had a pro-pilot degree program. What they didn't tell me was that the syllabus wasn't fully developed and no one had ever finished it. I didn't finish it either. I got some tailwheel time there. Took some Ag classes. And, they had me look for an internship. The internship was a summer job at a family Ag Aviation business in Eastern Washington. I worked mixing chemicals, loading and fueling airplanes, and working in the shop. I came back and worked for them again the next summer. I got a state chemical application license on my own time and money. In the third year they started letting me fly a little. The plane was a Cessna 188T AgHusky. I was only doing dry fertilizer. Which is done from about 30 feet up. In the fourth year they let me do some liquid application. Only on easy fields with no obstacles. I was still mostly doing ground work. Then the business I worked for sold the plane I was flying and bought a Turbine Thrush. I couldn't get insurance for the bigger airplane. Thus ended my agriculture career. I dont hold it against them. They needed to make changes to keep the business profitable. It's a tough business to break into. It's mostly families. |
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Originally Posted By AA717driver: Should be some King Air jobs out there at any given time. Climb2 350 or propilotworld.com. PPW is run by professionals and it’s like Teams here, not GD. It’s worth the small fee to join and I have zero association with it other than a long term membership. C2 350 is just a huge jobs clearinghouse. Probably worth the money to get full access to posted jobs. ETA: There are Ag pilots on PPW. Originally Posted By AA717driver: Originally Posted By Bushleaguepilot: King Air 350/MC-12, Skymaster and Caravan Should be some King Air jobs out there at any given time. Climb2 350 or propilotworld.com. PPW is run by professionals and it’s like Teams here, not GD. It’s worth the small fee to join and I have zero association with it other than a long term membership. C2 350 is just a huge jobs clearinghouse. Probably worth the money to get full access to posted jobs. ETA: There are Ag pilots on PPW. Thanks, this looks like a great resource, it's been a long time since I've had to look for a job. I've thought about going back to medivac up in Alaska. Strangely enough, lower 48 still seems to require mRNA vax and that's what cost me my long time job, it ain't happening. And I'm really not a corporate or airline guy, I just don't fit. I sold some land last year and that has bought me some time. Just that I was the sole income for the family for so long and I always got something with insurance. Now my wife has the insurance part covered and I just need to find the right thing to finish my aviation career on. Ultimately, I want to fly fire, but they have a 100 hour aerial application requirement. I've kind of been relying on JS Firm and exploring Indeed. I'll be digging into PPW now. |
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Originally Posted By The_Emu: I tried to get a Ag Aviation career started 20 some years ago. I started taking classes in State University that claimed to have a Ag Aviation degree program. It was a Midwestern traditional AG school that also had a pro-pilot degree program. What they didn't tell me was that the syllabus wasn't fully developed and no one had ever finished it. I didn't finish it either. I got some tailwheel time there. Took some Ag classes. And, they had me look for an internship. The internship was a summer job at a family Ag Aviation business in Eastern Washington. I worked mixing chemicals, loading and fueling airplanes, and working in the shop. I came back and worked for them again the next summer. I got a state chemical application license on my own time and money. In the third year they started letting me fly a little. The plane was a Cessna 188T AgHusky. I was only doing dry fertilizer. Which is done from about 30 feet up. In the fourth year they let me do some liquid application. Only on easy fields with no obstacles. I was still mostly doing ground work. Then the business I worked for sold the plane I was flying and bought a Turbine Thrush. I couldn't get insurance for the bigger airplane. Thus ended my agriculture career. I dont hold it against them. They needed to make changes to keep the business profitable. It's a tough business to break into. It's mostly families. For sure. I just drove 5000 miles through 5 states looking and talking to people directly. It's just going to come down to being in the right place at the right time. All the folks I have talked with have been super people, but they all say the same thing... It's a tough business to break into. |
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I did it backwards. My first job was crop dusting then went to King Airs. The job assistance the ag school I went to was a list of ag operations all over Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Like you I started driving with a stack of résumés and quickly found most of them were out of business or nobody was around to talk to. I lucked into a Pawnee job up in Saskatchewan. It wasn’t easy to get a waiver to hire a foreign pilot or pass the chemical applicator test, and Canadian physical. Took about a month to get all that squared away and hadn’t made a cent. I did just under 500 hours that summer. 18 hours of daylight in July. Tried to find another spraying job but never did. That was 35 years ago but apparently the same hurdles exist today? Attached File Good luck with your search. I always miss it whenever I see one spraying. |
Endeavor to persevere
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Originally Posted By deaddog8: I did it backwards. My first job was crop dusting then went to King Airs. The job assistance the ag school I went to was a list of ag operations all over Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Like you I started driving with a stack of résumés and quickly found most of them were out of business or nobody was around to talk to. I lucked into a Pawnee job up in Saskatchewan. It wasn’t easy to get a waiver to hire a foreign pilot or pass the chemical applicator test, and Canadian physical. Took about a month to get all that squared away and hadn’t made a cent. I did just under 500 hours that summer. 18 hours of daylight in July. Tried to find another spraying job but never did. That was 35 years ago but apparently the same hurdles exist today? https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/142550/IMG_1688_jpeg-3535759.JPG Good luck with your search. I always miss it whenever I see one spraying. Ha! That's awesome, but I think I'm backwards... at least my kids sure think I am. I applied to a firefinging outfit in Canada as they don't have the crop dusting requirement, but I don't have any of the license stuff done as that seems super complicated and I never heard from them. ETA I stopped at one place that was an ill maintained dirt strip with one dilapidated hangar and I swear there were tumbleweeds. The hangar was dilapidated enough I could see it was empty and I had driven way off the beaten path to find it. It was hilarious and disheartening all at once, but one of the really cool parts of this whole adventure was finding amazing places and very cool people way off the interstate in places I never would have thought to go. |
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Originally Posted By deaddog8: That picture was practicing for firefighting. We were on call as the government could commandeer the services for fire suppression. Never got that call. I practiced on old junk cars. I could just about roll them over with a direct hit. Cool! I thought it was an emergency dump. Did that in the Call Air at Riggin's ag school. |
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Guy that sprayed my acreage before we planted pine trees had a helicopter. He makes pretty good. He starts spraying in Florida and ends up in Illinois. Sprays crops, timberland, and everything else. Give your cards to all the loggers and foresters. Farm supply places, etc. He stays busy. Thousands of acres are sprayed every year before timber is planted. |
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
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Originally Posted By Oldgold: Guy that sprayed my acreage before we planted pine trees had a helicopter. He makes pretty good. He starts spraying in Florida and ends up in Illinois. Sprays crops, timberland, and everything else. Give your cards to all the loggers and foresters. Farm supply places, etc. He stays busy. Thousands of acres are sprayed every year before timber is planted. Thanks for the ideas. I'm not a helo guy and I don't have my own airplane either. One of the guys I went to the ag school was an older guy like me and he was trying to buy his own airplane. That seemed like a whole 'other level of complicated for just starting out. For me anyway. |
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Originally Posted By denverdan: I’m just a student pilot but that stuff looks totally bonkers to me. Much respect to those of you that choose to do it. A tip of the cap to ya. I'm not there yet but the school was awesome. ETA: So, I kind of see it as the last realm of pure stick and rudder flying. Despite the advent of GPS and turbine power, you are wheels in the weeds and you better have your turns right and you better remember where that wire was... and I'm super mission oriented. They help farmers feed America, hell, feed the world. How cool is that? And to be clear, I'm not there yet, really I'm just a student pilot too, we all are, always, but me especially with this stuff. Its a lot like starting all over for me. That is good and bad. |
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I’m an ag pilot. It’s tough to get into. You’re not over or under qualified so much as not in the same field. You just have to find someone who will throw you in there and let you figure it out. I’ve broken in a couple of green pilots. They were both farm kids growing up and had been around it. That probably helps more than being able to fly. If you ever have any questions feel free to PM me. |
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Originally Posted By TheQuadfather: I’m an ag pilot. It’s tough to get into. You’re not over or under qualified so much as not in the same field. You just have to find someone who will throw you in there and let you figure it out. I’ve broken in a couple of green pilots. They were both farm kids growing up and had been around it. That probably helps more than being able to fly. If you ever have any questions feel free to PM me. Thanks, just got home today. Drove over 7,000 miles through Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Utah and Arizona meeting people in person and handing out resumes. I did the Riggin Ag course in the fall of 2021. been trying since then to break in. I don't want to jinx myself, so I won't update until I'm sitting in the seat, but I have someone interested, just a matter of all the stars lining up. I'll update as soon as I know one way or another, but this is the most optimistic I've been for a while. Either way, I've seen some amazing parts of the country way off the highway and met a lot of awesome people. |
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Summertime millionaire with a cardboard suitcase. The night in 1967 I graduated from high school I had my bags packed and after walking across the stage I got in my car and headed to West Texas. Coyanosa, TX to be exact. There was a shitload of irrigated cotton there and a few AG operators. Nothing worked out there so I was off to Nebraska. Rockville , Nebraska. I did some ferry flying and loading, but no actual AG flying. A few weeks later I was in Northeast Texas. Hooks, TX where I got a real AG job flying a 135HP Super Cub with a Sorensen belly tank. The next summer I went to summer school, instructed in sea planes and got my multiengine in a Twin Beech. The next summer I was back in Coyanosa flying the same Super Cub. I flew 176 hours in 5 weeks. For a 20 year old kid I was packing a bunch of cash back to college. No more AG flying for me after that, just a bunch of Twin Beech freight hauling. |