The Rural Voice, 1978-06, Page 8instance, has doubled in that period.
Also like farming, the equipment is expensive. That Ag Cat he
bought used would cost $80,000 new. Kincardine Airways also
has four smaller Piper aircrafts which cost $20,000 used or
$30,000 new.
A new carburetor for one of the Pipers will run $1200 while a
complete engine overhaul will cost $15,000. For the big Ag Cat
the engine overhaul costs about $15,000 and must under
government regulations, be undertaken every 1000 hours even
though the manufacturer in the U.S. recommends every 1200
hours.
To meet the high costs, each of the three pilots of the company
must spray about 10,000 acres a year just to break even. Mr.
Szekely usually does 20,000 acres a year. Even then, he says, the
pilots make less money a year than the average wage earner.
It's a hard life too because you've got to be ready to go when
an emergency call comes in and when the weather is right.
Nearly all calls are of the emergency nature when people find
they can't do the job themselves with their ground equipment
and call for help. Or there may be a bad outbreak of insects in
one particular place that has to be fought. While the company
works mainly in Huron and Bruce counties, it may range all over
the province in emergencies. If there's an outbreak of army
worms in Picton, Mr. Szekely says, they can be there in three
hours. A couple of years ago there was a serious army worm
outbreak near Windsor and aircraft from all over the province
converged to fight it. Mr. Szekely took off without even a change
of clothes and didn't return for days, until he had sprayed about
7000 acres. In all he estimates about 50,000 acres were sprayed
in a matter of days to beat the bug.
Even in less hectic times, he says, he may not get home for up
to three weeks on end. The flyers start spraying early in the
morning because they have to quit about mid-day when the heat
is so much on the land that air rises from it, carrying the
chemicals with it. The mid-day hours are spent visiting farmers
who want to have spraying done to work out all the details about
which fields and which chemicals. Then later in the day once the
heat is off, its back in the plane to spray until the light fails. The
pilot then sleeps wherever he can because he hasn't the time to
go home. The routine goes on from May to September with the
pilots up -and down like a yoyo, Mr. Szekely says.
Why would someone put up with such hours, with the
uncertain economic situation he is constantly in and the
frustrations of red tape? Well he likes the job because he can see
results, he says. He can see that he's helping farmers. Most
pilots don't do it for the money, he says, but for the challenge,
the action.
It doesn't make sense to those who care about working
conditions and wages, but then farmers are apt to understand
that kind of logic themselves. 0
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Rural Voice
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