- [Narrator] Hello, everyone.

And welcome to this episode of "Pilots, Props, and Planes."

Today we are in Chowchilla, California.

We're gonna take a look at agricultural aviation and speak with one of the foremost pilots in the AG industry, Doug Teal, from Teal Air Care.

(aircraft engine rumbles) (upbeat music) Funding for "Pilots, Props, and Planes."

is provided by... (upbeat music) - [Man] Reedley College is proud to be a part of the aviation industry, providing advanced education in all aspects of flight science, aviation mechanics, and professional pilot training.

Go Tigers!

(plane takes off) (calm music) - [Narrator] Crop dusting, or aerial application as it's now professionally referred to, celebrates its 100th birthday on August 30th, 2021.

At 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon on August 31st, 1921, and with little fanfare, a World War I Curtiss Jenny dropped the first load of chemicals in the history of agricultural aviation.

Today, as 100 years ago, agricultural aviation ensures that our nation farmers can continue to supply our cities and towns with food, as well as resources such as cotton, timber and biofuel ingredients.

Aerial application of fungicides, pesticides, and other chemicals over crops helps them grow more efficiently and boost production.

With the increases in food consumption and demand in the United States, crop dusting helps farmers increase their yields without having to expand the size of their farms.

Additionally, aerial application is used to seed crops like rice, wheat, and carrots, defoliate cotton prior to harvest, fight forest and grassland fires, protect forests, feed fish, melt snow, and control mosquitoes that threaten public health.

And AG aircraft are no longer the fabric-covered, surplus biplanes of the warriors.

Modern AG aircraft are robust, steel-framed aircraft, designed to protect the pilot and powered by turbine engines that provide safety and reliability not available in the early days.

Additionally, AG pilots enjoy the tremendous benefits of the new technology that's available to them.

Swath guidance and aerial imaging, along with prescription mapping and disposal systems, have revolutionized aerial application.

GPS systems provide accuracy to within as little as three feet.

And electronic mapping and light bars in front of the pilot provide aid and safety at low altitudes.

With all of the advances in AG aviation, one thing has never changed.

Aerial application is still the best and most economical method, and sometimes the only method for timely application of products for the food we consume.

So, the next time you sit down to a freshly prepared meal, along with the farmer and rancher, the grocer and butcher and the transportation professionals who bring our food to us, say thanks to an AG pilot too.

Happy 100th birthday to agricultural aviation.

Keep flying.

(whimsical music) - Hello, everyone.

We're in Chowchilla, California this morning and we're visiting a old friend of mine from Teal Air Care, Doug Teal.

And Doug, good morning and welcome to the show.

- Well, welcome to our establishment.

- You've been flying AG for many years.

How did you get started in flying and in AG flying?

- I started flying when I was 18 years old.

My association with my uncle, I kinda got introduced to it.

I started in 1977, but full time since about '81.

And came back in '85 and it was off then to the races.

- When you first started flying AG, what airplane did you fly?

- Cessna AGwagon.

It was a lighter one.

And then we got introduced in the '87 to an Air Tractor 301.

That's where I started spraying at night.

- So, the aircraft that you fly here at Teal Air Care are the Air Tractors?

- Yes, sir.

Yeah.

- [Bill] And you fly several different types of Air Tractors?

- Well, we have 802s, 800 gallon airplane.

And we have some 502s that are 500 gallon airplanes.

- [Bill] And you also have rotary wing aircraft.

- [Doug] Yes, we do.

- And how do they fit into the mission statement?

- With urban encroachment to where we can confine ourselves to the field, it's very important.

Anybody that's a major player in especially Central California, that is not involved with a rotary wing, they're thinking about it.

Because drift, we just can't afford drift anymore.

The surrounding crops are too valuable.

There's too many people around.

So we get some rather drift-sensitive crops but the mission's different.

- So there's a very scientific aspect to the application-- - Absolutely.

Absolutely.

- Of agricultural products.

- And getting more so.

But, that's what-- - But, why would you fly at night?

- The night flying in California, number one, it's hot.

So, we've learned that evaporation is an issue.

But mostly because night flying here started because of sulfur, has a flash point of 85 degrees.

So it's easier to have a sulfur fire.

So most of the sulfurs is done most of the time under 85 degrees.

And that's nighttime.

You don't have enough, enough hours in July and August in California to, under 85 degrees is past 10 o'clock in the morning.

So to get anything done, it had to work at night.

Plus there's a lot of hand crews around in the fields during the daytime.

And it's kind of important to be absent from them during their work hours because a lot of 'em are terrified of pesticides and our society in general, it's better not to be seen.

- And what are some of the positive aspects of flying AG, as opposed to ground application, for instance?

- Number one, the timing.

We can be in a very, very small window.

And... with trees, almonds and pistachios have kinda taken over the valley.

And with 80% of their crop being in the top 25% of the canopy of the tree, that's where we are most effective.

- Sure.

You've done a lot of different kind of flying.

Some of it includes an airplane that we're both really familiar with, the Pitts Special.

- [Doug] Yeah.

- [Bill] How'd you like flying the Pitts?

- [Doug] It was good.

- Do you see a comparison there with AG flying and aerobatic flying?

Are you loading up the airplane G forces in AG like you would in an aerobatic airplane?

- Can be, but not like you think.

We might approach two to three Gs.

- And a G is the force of gravity that the pilot feels in the airplane, positive Gs and negative Gs.

How do they relate to AG flying?

And where would you pull the most G?

- In a turn.

In a turn.

(aircraft engine rumbles) - [Narrator] Okay.

Exactly what is G force?

It's short for gravitational force equivalent.

It's a measurement of the kind of force that causes a perception of weight.

A G force of one G is equal to the value of normal gravity that keeps us all stuck to the earth as we walk on it.

Gravity keeps water from floating out of your glass and keeps your hair from floating all over the place.

You can feel G force increase when you're riding in something that goes in a fast circle, like the carnival ride.

As it spins, it keeps you pressed up against the side of the ride, even when you're looking straight down at the ground below.

You are being held in place by centrifical force.

And the speed of the spinning ride causes you to experience G force, in this case, three Gs, or three times the normal force of gravity.

In a crop duster, the pilot feels the G force when he or she makes a sharp, banking turn at the end of a crop row.

It doesn't interfere with the pilot's ability to control the plane, though, because the level of G force doesn't take away the ability to move your arms and legs.

- I would assume then, that pulling a few Gs means you're pulling a tighter turn because you want to get back to the field as quickly as possible.

Time is money.

- Time is money.

Time is money.

You have to be careful with the Gs, because there's such a long life.

The airplanes are lasting 40 years or more.

- [Bill] Really?

- Yeah.

We have parts on the airplane that are life limited.

And most of that is because of G forces.

- Doug, how does somebody become an AG pilot, especially in today's world?

- We're one of the last flying industries that is mainly stick and rudder flying.

There's a lot of technology in the cockpits but it's still basic stick and rudders.

Your skill's what's gonna do the job.

- So it's your hands and your feet... - Your hands and your feet.

And you're coordinated.

You're in a lot of turns.

There's stall spin accidents, but you gotta get familiar with stick and rudder airplanes, tail draggers, and heavy tail draggers.

- Can a person go to a school to learn how to fly AG, or can they also go to work and then work their way up?

- Both.

I have trained a number of AG pilots.

You can go to a hundred different AG operations and find a hundred different ways to do this job.

- So let's get back to stick and rudder for just a moment.

You're hands on.

There's no computer flying the airplane.

- No.

- But you do use computers.

- We do, a lot.

- And how do computers come into play?

- Navigation.

Marking our swaths.

They're accurate within three feet.

Our flow controls.

It is tremendously accurate because it's tied to the GPS.

There's a lot more technology in this business now than anybody could envision.

It's not the Stearmans flying around anymore.

- How does the technology make it safer?

- My dad used to tell me that flying is 90% procedure, 10% skill.

The computers with the calibration take some of the time that you would dedicate to procedure to improve your skill.

- In the present day AG aviation world, are there a lot of pilots flying or are the numbers down?

What's the need for pilots?

And if somebody wants to learn how to fly AG, what kind of competition are they up against?

- There is a definite need.

The average age of the AG pilots has been climbing for several years.

So there's definitely a need.

If you are ready to, if you have the skill and the willingness to do it, there'll be a job for you there somewhere.

- So, something on the fun side.

Well, of course it's all fun.

But a few years ago, Pixar, Disney came to you and wanted to use one of your airplanes in a movie they were making.

You wanna tell us a little bit about that and how all that happened?

- It's the movie planes and our airplane is the sound of Dusty Crophopper's engine in the movie "Planes."

Both of them, and that was really a fun experience.

- So what was it like working with Pixar?

- Oh, fun.

It was fun.

We were kinda surprised because AG pilots kinda get in our own little world and all we do is fly and we close the doors and go to work and come home and go to sleep and then go back to work.

And so when they called me and said, "Pixar's coming," I didn't know who that was.

My kids were just really little.

And so when they showed up with 20 or 30 people, it was a kind of stunned, but those people were fascinated and I was fascinated with them.

And there was one fun event that was really worth talking about was this, they got the, the sounds of a startup and a shutdown.

And then they found out I could back up.

So they wanted that.

And they got the sound of a takeoff.

They all lined the runway and they took off and we landed.

And then this one little girl and it was obvious that she had, she was young.

It was obviously she probably hadn't been outta city limits very much because she said, she came up and she said, "Now we're gonna do the sound of a flyover."

She said, "I'm gonna stand in the middle of the runway with my microphone over my head.

And I want you to fly over me as low as you feel comfortable."

And I'd ask her, I said, "Do you know what we do?"

(men laugh) And she said, "No, but just do it."

I said, "Okay."

So we went about it and she she screamed in the mic the first three times.

(men laugh) - So, a day's worth of work brings you memories that last a life time.

- Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And my grandkids have a little Dusty Crophopper... - [Dusty Crophopper] Clear for takeoff.

- [Doug] Toy that is sold around the world, that the sound is my engine.

That's kinda cool.

(aircraft takes off) - [Bill] That's very cool.

- [Doug] Yes.

- [Bill] That's very cool.

(aircraft engine rumbles) (rumbling continues) We just heard about the sounds that were used for Dusty Crophopper's airplane in the Pixar movie "Planes."

Now we're gonna take a look at another aircraft that was used in that same production, a Travel Air biplane, that was also featured in the movie "Planes."

- Restoring this old airplane fulfilled every hope that I thought it would.

The restoration of course, was very enjoyable.

I would sit and watch it sometimes, just stand back and look and see it take shape and experience the thrill of seeing this become a real airplane.

And then on top of that, to be able to fly it is even a better bonus.

I had always been wishing I could restore an old airplane, and they'd been looking at different types, of course, just dreaming.

But when retirement came and I found I had the time now, I set out for my first choice was gonna be a Travel Air.

I just liked the looks of 'em.

They were classic to me.

And it was the kind of-- I wanted definitely open cockpit and biplane.

Travel Air was it.

(aircraft engine rumbles) I'm an engineer.

I had also worked for 14 years in aerospace with Boeing and North American early in my career.

I had built a home-built airplane before and I had worked, helped friends and so on, learned to re-cover fabric airplanes.

So this was the natural end of what I was looking for.

It was five years, well not counting the looking and actually finding the right airplane.

The first year was spent just gathering information, drawings, learning about this particular model.

This airplane was owned by Sol Sweet.

He had a contract with the park service to fly the park superintendent among King's Canyon, Sequoia, Death Valley and a national monument down in San Diego County.

And the park's superintendent had convinced the government that the only way he was gonna cover all that territory was to have a airplane at his disposal.

So he approached Sol Sweet and Sol didn't have an airplane that could cross the mountains.

Now we're in the depth of the Depression here and Sol didn't have very much money either to be buying an airplane, but he did.

He managed to bargain for this airplane.

And for quite a few years was the park superintendent's private pilot.

The airplane is back home.

It started with Sol Sweet and then he sold the airplane to a duster up in Sacramento who fortunately, did not convert it to a duster.

Most of these airplanes were converted and that was the end of their life.

They flew 'em to death.

They were good dusters.

The good news is that this particular airplane sat in the back of the hangar and left alone, except the bad news is it was heavily pirated for parts.

So I didn't get all of the airplane, but I got the big parts.

The fuselage has metal cowling that the original was so beat up and corroded that I decided that we were just gonna have to make all new metal.

And that was beyond my ability.

I decided early on that I wanted to replicate the original look of the airplane as best I could.

The airplane for me was not intended as a showpiece, as much as I wanted to restore the history of this marvelous old company and this beautiful airplane.

When we did the fabric work, we were very careful to not use a shiny, finish it in a shiny way because old airplanes weren't shiny.

And furthermore, you can see the weave of the fabric in the surface.

And that too was important.

Unfortunately, the modern style is to go real shiny and real slick.

But that's not how it was.

The wing color might be a little lighter than original, but the sales brochure said that, for $20, you could have the wings painted any color you wanted.

So we took that option.

(men laugh) (aircraft engine rumbles) It is a wonderful experience to fly this airplane.

It's slow because it has such low wing loading.

That is to say, it's got an awful lot of wing for the weight of the airplane, but it handles in a very predictable way.

The thing that's a little bit difficult, hard to get used to for me, was that you can't see straight ahead.

You've got this huge engine in front of you and all of your vision is directed downward to the side.

On landing approach, you really can't see.

And in fact, you might say that for a small runway like we have here, if you can see the runway, you're in trouble.

Now, I guess elevator cables must have been a big issue back then because he had this window put on here so that he could show the potential buyers what a safe airplane this was.

Open cockpit.

You've heard how that's real flying.

And I gotta say, all you've heard is right.

The open pit, the experience of the wind, and the sound of the wind through the wires and the struts.

And of course the just clear view of everything below you.

Moving along, I might add, at a very slow and easy to take pace.

(aircraft engine rumbles) - We're an Exeter, California, and we're talking with Mark Hull from "All Drone Solutions" about how remote controlled drones have entered into all facets of the aviation industry.

Mark, welcome to the show and tell us a little bit about "All Drone Solutions" and about your background.

- Well, thank you for having me.

I started working with autonomous drones about eight years ago.

And when I saw what drones were able to do, I got really excited.

And I learned how they might be used in agriculture industry and being here in Exeter, kinda the heart of the citrus industry, I thought, you know what?

I might be able to mix a little bit of fun and technology in the agriculture industry.

So I got a booth at the "World AG Expo" and that was what really kicked it off.

The biggest drone company really started making things a lot easier and user friendly because they actually wanted to use drones to spray rice.

They started using cellular technology, actually.

It's what's made these things lighter and smaller and less expensive, being able to add GPS and what we call the IMU, which is like the gyro and the small compasses.

And these things are what's needed in order to make these things much easier and friendly to fly.

And with drones and gives you an opportunity to like, you're in an airplane and you can go fly around, but you can let go of the sticks and stop for a minute and take a break.

(drone buzzes) You have kind of two categories.

You have a hobbyist drone, and then you have a commercial pilot drone operator.

Then if you wanna fly commercial, there is a what's called a Part 107 license through the FAA.

And that allows you to request waivers to fly a little bit higher, to fly at night, to fly near airports, over people.

Those things are available to the commercial pilot who has their license.

- Early in the conversation, you touched on the agricultural aspect.

So tell us a little bit about what you do specifically with your drones.

- In basic, we're using near infrared cameras, like the one behind me, and also thermal cameras.

And we're doing mapping, which is the process of flying kind of a lawnmower pattern back and forth, taking hundreds, if not tens of thousands of photos looking straight down, so that we can give the customer a picture of their field as if it was a true map.

So we can just call it mapping.

With that camera, we can do all sorts of analytics.

We can look for trees that might need some pesticide because of pest pressure, they're stressed.

We could look at the thermal camera and look for irrigation issues.

But essentially giving them the condition of their entire field, but with an overview of where your sick and healthy trees are, we call it kinda hot spots, so that they could potentially go and treat those areas.

So, I work with multiple companies that are developing different technologies that can help a grower.

And that's been my focus the whole time.

- Thanks everyone for joining us on this episode of "Pilots, Props, and Planes."

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for "Pilots, Props and Planes" is provided by... - [Man] Reedley College, nestled against the Sierra in Central California, offers a full spectrum of flight science, aviation mechanics and professional pilot education in an affordable community college setting.

Go Tigers!

(plane takes off) (upbeat music) (calm music)