Flying agricultural aeroplanes and helicopters is particularly dangerous work requiring the highest qualifications. To carry out agro flights, flying crews and those servicing this equipment must possess high aviation qualifications as well as physical and mental aptitude.
The work of an agro pilot is unlike work in any other branch of aviation. It consists of repetitive flights over crops, constant concentration to maintain a steady, low flight altitude and avoid terrain obstacles. Agricultural aircraft have no autopilots and the pilot flies manually only, additionally operating the agro equipment. It is essential to meet agrotechnical deadlines linked to the pest’s development stage or crop growth stage. Flights then often last from early morning hours until dusk. The air around the aircraft is permeated with toxic chemicals that are harmful to health.
Cockpits have no air conditioning, and flights are often conducted in temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius. Working airstrips are usually situated near the crops and the crew is left to its own resources. A high degree of responsibility for the quality of work and the serviceability of flying equipment and agro apparatus is required. During work abroad, Polish crews lived in primitive conditions without contact with their families, sometimes for several months. Knowledge of foreign languages was also necessary for communicating with contractors, and during ferry flights, knowledge of communication procedures was needed for contact with air traffic services.
Maintaining best range speed on one engine I was descending and unfortunately full of fears that the other one, the working one, would not shut down too… not to over-pitch the rotor, to hit the chosen point precisely at minimum speed… there is no other place to land… — Kazimierz Witek*
