Pre-Christmas warning issued to farmers and topdressing pilots
A warning to farmers and topdressing pilots to take extra care as Christmas approaches.
That's the view of Agricultural Aviation Association chair Alan Beck who describes the present state of the industry as too many operators charging too little for less and less overall work.
Beck, who operates a helicopter operation in Taranaki, says the present industry is over-competitive and in an effort to stay in business operators are cutting their prices to the point where they will inevitably go broke.
"They are trying to hang in until the other guy goes broke to get a bit of their work," he told Rural News.
"Years ago we had the situation where one or two operators could conveniently handle all the work and did 600-800 hours. Now there are eight operators. In Nelson there are 15 helicopters – just about one on every hill – and they're all doing a bit so it's a dog-eat-dog situation."
Beck says while he has a good business now, if he was coming new to the industry he wouldn't set up a business; there is no future in ag aviation under the present regime.
He says in 1989 there were 315 ag operators and today just 20 of those have survived.
He believes it's too easy for people to get into the industry: even if people can't get an air certificate they can 'attach' themselves to a fully licensed operator and work under their 'umbrella'. Such people are supposed to work under direct supervision, but in many cases their supervisor can be hundreds of kilometres away – a farce.
He says in the past people joining the ag aviation industry went through carefully phased training and usually stayed with the company that trained them for some years. But now, once a pilot is trained he tends to leave and set up his own business.
Despite these problems, he reckons the quality of the work being done in the ag sector is higher now than it was because of new technologies – especially GPS.
Beck sees the downturn in farming affecting ag aviation. In the last quarter flying time is down by 8000 hours on the previous year. He sees a lot of urea being applied but says this is seasonal.
