WSJ reports: "aerial application" -- the name many pilots prefer to "crop-dusting" -- is a hot field, thanks in part to the recent farming boom. Crop-dusters spread fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides and weed killers. Some farmers even seed from the air. Skilled agricultural, or "ag," pilots typically make from $60,000 to $100,000 a year, and those who own spraying businesses can earn much more. Salaries for pilots at small airlines start at $20,000 and rarely get anywhere near six figures.
Aerial application, in contrast, is on the upswing. Hours flown by crop-dusters rose 29% from 2003 through 2007, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. While most aircraft makers are in a slump, leading aerial-application manufacturer Air Tractor Inc., in Olney, Texas, is cranking out more planes than it did last year.
The ranks of ag pilots have been thinning for years as experienced fliers get older and retire. So the National Agricultural Aviation Association, the industry's main trade group, is using the field's newfound attraction to recruit younger pilots.
Largely because of high cost of entry, about the only way for newcomers to get a job is through apprenticeships with established spraying operations. Aspiring ag pilots typically start at the bottom and often quit before they get a chance to fly.
Pilots are drawn to crop-dusting not only for the money, but also for the chance to be their own bosses and to do the kind of low-altitude flying and stuntlike maneuvers one wouldn't dream of performing in a big jet.
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