The development of aircraft and helicopter design and production, accumulated experience and established organisational frameworks led to the flourishing of Polish agricultural aviation in the 1970s and ’80s. In the 1980s, approximately 300 aeroplanes and helicopters were working in agriculture and forestry.
Polish agricultural aviators worked in 20 countries around the world, in areas as diverse as Africa, Asia and Europe (Iran, Scandinavia). The Polish organisational model, in which service activities were closely linked with design, research, production of specialist equipment and crew training, proved to be the key to success. For crews, organisers and technicians, foreign operations represented a complex challenge. Different climatic conditions, variety of tasks and logistical problems were a demanding test of Polish specialists’ training, organisational skills and adaptability. Contracts in distant countries involved bold long-distance flights over seas and mountains, often at the limits of the agricultural aircraft’s capabilities.
Working in countries exotic to Poles also required the ability to communicate with people of different cultures, political and legal systems. The long-term presence of Polish agricultural aviation in distant countries proves that these challenges were met superbly. On foreign markets there was no central planning, but competition with other companies providing agricultural aviation services. Poles carried out operations on the largest scale in Africa, where for many years there were permanent technical bases with airfields at Benha (Egypt) and Hassaheisa (Sudan). The bases provided extensive facilities for agricultural aviators, with chemical stores, workshops and hangar shelters. In addition to aircraft, hundreds of ground vehicles were shipped to Africa, serving to support the aeroplanes, transport personnel and cargo. more: export of services and equipment
It can be stated with full responsibility that the organisational model of our agricultural aviation had no equivalents in the world and was exemplary. Several countries produced agricultural aeroplanes and had agricultural aviation enterprises, but in Poland this manifested itself as the integration into a single organisation of design, research, serial production, export and service delivery. — Lesław Karst*
