September 2010 Issue 102

edited by John Powell

A series of excerpts from an unpublished autobiography of a pioneer pilot in Australia begins this month.

INTRODUCTION

John spent a life in agricultural low-flying operations. For twenty seven years he was an aerial spraying operator, in Australia and overseas; then another eleven years with the Department of Aviation, as an examiner of airmen for their licences in agricultural low- flying, followed by nine years running his own flying school. He trained 84 pilots for low-flying aerial spraying and another 72 pilots in general low-level operations. During this time he was sent to China eight times to train Chinese pilots. He completed 13000 hours of low-level flying with the only injury a scratch on the back of his hand from a split-pin.

He was particularly concerned about safety in this area of highly skilled flying, where aerial sprayers spray at a height of only six feet for hours on end. He drafted a Safety Manual for the Department of Civil Aviation, which is still used today, and published two books on safety in low-flying aviation.

Recognised by his peers, the Australian Region of the British Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, he was awarded the honour of “Master Air Pilot” and was also given the Sir James Martin Award in recognition of his time and efforts in low-level flight training over 55 years.

In March, 2008, The Australian Government  awarded him a well-deserved Order of Australia, for his efforts in making flight at lower levels, particularly agricultural flying, safer.

A year before he died he took me for a flight in a Cessna 172.  After a short while I asked if we could do some low-level flying, and down we went to six feet; “Do you see these power lines ahead of us?” he asked. “We shall now initiate you.” Under the power lines we went and zoomed up on the other side.

“How much clearance was there, John” I asked.

“Ten feet” he replied, laughing. “You have now been initiated” and handed me the cap of his aviation school with, “Specialist Low Level Flying Training” on it. I prize it.  Was I scared flying under the power lines? No, I could not have been in safer hands of skill.

In his retirement he completed his very interesting autobiography for family and friends, The Golden Years of Low-Level Flight. Shortly before he died after a long illness, I suggested he published it in serial form in Bonzer! He asked me to do so for him. Here it is. His flying experiences will be foremost.

THE GOLDEN YEARS OF LOW-LEVEL FLIGHT

The Men

Agricultural pilots in the industry, both the men that I know personally and all the others that I have not met, struggle out of bed much earlier than they would choose, climb into their various types of aircraft, commencing operations as soon as there is sufficient light to fly.

The more predictable conditions that are required for agricultural flying usually occur at the extremities of the day, around first light in the morning and just before last light in the evening. The agricultural pilot’s working day is, of necessity, quite a long one, for even though he might rest or not be actively engaged in flying in the middle of the day, he is, for all intents and purposes, still on the job. Aerial spraying carried out at night places great demands upon the pilot’s physical and physiological abilities if he supplements day operations with short periods of night operations.

Agricultural pilots would all know that special time, first thing in the morning, when one is usually alone in the aircraft for agricultural aircraft are predominantly single seater. Also one is flying at low level, quite often in close proximity to occupied dwellings. This brings it home to you that, with few exceptions, the rest of the world is asleep. You feel completely on your own and also feel as if you are the only person who is seeing the sun rise and seeing the dawn coming. Quite possibly you are one of the first ones because you are just a little bit higher than the others and so the dawn arrives just that little earlier than for everybody else.

To the pilots and all the men that support them, the loader drivers, mechanics, office staff and salesmen. To all those that are out and about assisting in the whole operation in the early parts of the day, this book is dedicated.

To be continued

This entry was posted by John Powell on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Reflection. You can be notified of any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment in the box at the bottom of the post.

 Print This Post
After you click the print button, a new page will appear.
Click the link at the bottom right of the page to print it.