You hear the hum of the engine and crane your neck just in time to see the plane swoop gracefully down over the field and swing back up as the row ends. Sometimes they seem to come from out of nowhere over the treetops—you catch a glimpse then lose sight of them again.

There’s not a person who grew up around farming that hasn’t at one time or another wanted to make the easy arcs over the cotton and soar back up into the cloudless sky. They are part of the mystique of the Delta. You have the blues, the River, the crops, and the cropdusters—though they are known as aerial applicators these days. And, even as their presence has remained a constant in the Delta landscape, the nature of their business, along with their name, has changed.

Agricultural aviators today face many challenges such as the issue of chemical drift and the development of new ground-based equipment such as terragators and rogators. Added to these issues is the extraordinarily high cost of equipment and elevated insurance rates.

Even with so many changes that have come about, longtime pilots such as Charlie Christmas, who with his two sons Michael and Kenny, operate Christmas Flying Service, Inc., in Shelby say the "changes are 100 percent for the better."

The pilots in the late 1940’s and 50’s learned their skills in the armed forces flying during World War II. Cropdusting then was literally crop dusting as pilots used dusts such as DET for cotton. At that time, the top payload for a plane was 400 pounds of dust, compared to the 4,000-pound payload of today’s specially built machines.

By the late 1950’s, liquid insecticides and pesticides began to be used. All equipment went from dry to wet applications and specialty applications and techniques appeared. The spraying of liquid crop protection products continues today, but the issue of chemical drift has changed the way many people view the industry.

According to AgAir Update, in 1996, several drift incidents became very high profile in the media and raised "drift concerns" throughout the county. Political leaders were contacted by citizen groups, farm labor organizations and environmental activists alleging harm to public health and damage to the environment as a result of drift and misapplication of chemicals.

In response to these concerns, aerial applicators have developed specialized crop protection products and spraying techniques that provide for the protection of surrounding crops and communities.

The crop protection products available today are highly selective, have shorter residual and are environmentally sound. To ensure that a product, when used properly, will not present any health or environmental concerns, it is subjected to 120 separate tests before it is released. And, on the average, only one in 20,000 compounds makes it from the chemist’s laboratory to the farmer’s field.

The chemicals are tested not only for safety during the spraying process, but are also tested to insure that the food that comes into our stores can be safely eaten. Such painstaking measures to provide safe and effective crop protection products lead former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to say, "Our food supply is not only the safest, but is the most abundant in the world, and pesticides are one of the important tools that have made that abundance possible."

The safety of the communities located near crops where chemicals are sprayed is a particular concern for aerial applicators. Bern Prewitt, president of the Mississippi Aerial Applicators Association, said, "Aerial applicators are professionals doing a professional job. They are very conscientious. The communities in which they fly are their communities and they want to do what is best for their communities."

Charlie Christmas added, "The public is living in a safer environment with the use of special equipment and techniques. We take pride in watching out for the public and communities we serve."

The development of land-based equipment for the spreading of insecticides and pesticides has also had an impact on aerial applicators. The terragators, known as a "big wheel," and the rogators, used for row crops such as soybeans, have had a negative impact on the industry in some areas of the state, but Prewitt said that they do have their uses.

"In the Delta it has become a marriage between the two. Due to changes in the season, terragators can be used to avoid the use of planes and the danger of spraying susceptible crops," he said.

Some of the most dramatic changes in aerial application have come in its equipment. Pilots no longer mark fields by using a human flagman, they use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that indicate the location of crops through satellite-linked technology.

The efficiency of the airplanes is also a major advancement. According to Christmas, one aircraft can now do the same amount of work that three to four planes could do 20 to 30 years ago. The change from the piston to the turbine engine has improved the engines’ lifespan by as much as 10 times over that of an overhauled World War II engine.

The new planes are also safer. Christmas explained that the planes are designed for impact, in some cases, up to as much as 10 to 12 G’s. The equipment is reliable and it exhibits much better flight characteristics. The cockpits are sealed to avoid exposure to the outside environment and the chemicals used-they’re even air-conditioned.

With the advanced technology has come advanced cost, however. Christmas said that in the 1950’s, a World War II overhauled engine cost approximately $2000. Today the engine alone can cost $250,000.

And, if you have an engine, you need a plane. According to Prewitt, planes and engines such as those produced by Air Tractor and Thrush, the two biggest suppliers, cost between $400,000 to $450,000.

Insurance is another expensive facet of the industry. Dorothy Kimmel, owner and president of Kimmel Aviation Insurance Agency, and mother of four sons who are aerial applicators, said,

"At this time, there are only four domestic markets who are willing to quote insurance premiums for agricultural aviation. There is one London market that is a surplus line to be used if other sources are unavailable, such as for low-time pilots. Low-time pilots generally have a small amount of time flying agriculturally because they are just out of school or are just getting started."

Kimmel went on to say that an additional expense is worker’s compensation insurance for employees. "You must use the assigned risk program for worker’s compensation through the National Council of Compensation Insurance which is very high. This year, however, I have a volunteer market that offers a rate of $13.20 per every $100 earned each week for up to $300 earned each week per employee. The state requires that worker’s compensation be paid only if you have five or more employees."

"Insurance premiums on planes has gone up in the past year because so many operators have turbine airplanes. The annual premium for a $400,000 turbine airplane is about $18,500 per year. For a $75,000 airplane, it is about a $7,500 yearly premium. These rates are for well-experienced pilots with no losses," she said.

Kimmel said that the four insurance markets who will quote rates for agricultural aviation purposes also offer insurance for chemical drift if it goes over into a third party’s properties. For insurance coverage in case of drift on an adjacent field and for a crop that was incorrectly treated, it is an additional cost of $2,000 per year.

Another difficulty with insurance is procuring life insurance. If a person is over 15 years of age and involved as an agricultural aviator, their insurance rate is rated up.

The high costs of insurance point to the inherent risks of agricultural aviation. Fortunately in Mississippi, the number of pilot deaths is very low. In fact, Mississippi boasts one of the best safety records in the nation.

Prewitt attributes the success in safety to the safety programs that all pilots must attend. Christmas attributes the programs as well as increased education for pilots and the previously mentioned improvements in airplane design.

"In the past," he said, "pilots came out of World War II and were not specifically trained for agricultural aviation. Today, pilots must complete agricultural aviation school where they learn to fly specifically for this market."

To address matters such as safety, chemical drift, and the adherence to state regulations, the Agricultural Aviation Board was formed. This entity was designed for the regulation of pilots and operators of agricultural aircraft. The Governor, who receives two peer-chosen recommendations, appoints one member to the board each year. The organization has the legislative-appointed power to charge pilots who break state regulations or who do not live up to the industry’s standards.

The industry has suffered some setbacks due to the reduction of the acreage of cotton being planted. Farmers have reduced their cotton crops due to the reduction in market price coupled with the high production cost that cotton requires, according to Prewitt.

But, as everyone in the agricultural industry knows, farming is a gamble. "Labor has changed and the rules and regulations have changed," said Prewitt. "But the future looks good. As long as there are crops, the airplane will be needed-it’s just a way of life." DBJ

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Site last updated January 10, 1999.