flagold
Registered User
Abbeville, Alabama
I fly ag for a living, and you should see the way most people freak out when I tell them that. They think we’re drunk cowboys that crash airplanes daily and coat the schoolyard with poisons, the industry has been a pretty clean one for 30-40 years but that’s still the public perception. Most airports don’t want us to run off them, and I’ve had every creed, color, and religion file complaints with various government agencies on me. The wires, trees, and other obstacles don’t bother me, but a stranger videoing me or making a call keeps me up at night.
STOL competitions will end up with the same perception if some serious self policing doesn’t begin soon. Personally I don’t see the point in the Arkansas setup or the real world application to it, but I’m not opposed to it nor do I want to see the feds regulate it out of existence. Both sides of the aisle hate ag flying, it’s rare to find anyone lift a finger in support of the industry. Don’t let STOL competitions end up the same way."
Perceptions are important. I don't totally agree with Roy's assessment. That said, I know and respect him, and his point of view. He has a very nice PA-11 as well, and does in fact fly the back country. I do think he has some valid points.
MTV
I'm sure he's a good man and everyone is entitled to their opinion and yes, he did make some points. After looking more into this I amended my comment above about Pierce and his competition specifically. That was a whole different deal than this (after being out of flying I don't keep up well). If the ag-pilots here got together and made a team spraying (yes that was done) competition where each team was required to have a minimum of 3 airplanes in the field at one time, with a minimum of 10 laps with the winning time being the sole factor - I'm quite sure it would generate another article - because it would have no real world application at all, it's simply a dreamed up competition for no other reason than to compete.
It gets complicated when perception and regulation impedes on the real world activity.