Mosquito Spray Pilots?
- Thread starter srn121
- Start date
jynxyjoe
Queso King
When you squawk are you normally odd or even on the last number. Odds are normally mosquito mix.
I do a lotta evens and it's the original mind control.
What's the pay and schedule like? Did you ever have health concerns? Is there a reason you left the position?
Ajax
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well this is embarrassing, I had it backwards
Mike Wise
#NewSchool
See, thats how they get you!. The wording in the chemtrail contract is weird.
however the stories i've hear about mosquito pilot jobs is pretty cool. Flying magazine just published an article about them last month.
bksslc
Well-Known Member
Attachments
jynxyjoe
Queso King
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
http://www.flyingmag.com/expert-pilots-keep-disease-carrying-mosquitoes-in-check
Figured they would write about the infamous Lee County Air Force
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
When I was growing up in South Florida, these big tanker trucks would go through the neighborhoods pumping out a pretty thick layer of fog for mosquito control.
In that era of drinking from the garden hose without a bike helmet, my parents answer to my concern was "ahh, just come indoors for 10 minutes".
Maybe they were right. No daim bramage that I can detect.
Richman
In that era of drinking from the garden hose without a bike helmet, my parents answer to my concern was "ahh, just come indoors for 10 minutes".
Maybe they were right. No daim bramage that I can detect.
Richman
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
Heck, that's conservative. I know people that played in the fog created by the trucks with no adverse effects.
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
@srn121
Now that I have more than a few minutes to reply, I'll try and address your questions.
As far as health concerns, yes and no. You always have concerns any time you are dealing with any job that has a close proximity to any chemical. That being said, the vast majority of the chemicals we used were of a type that you could pretty much bathe in, yet see no ill effects... ever. We did use a few that required a fair amount of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), but we knew the dangers and took every precaution when dealing with any chemical. We developed our dispersal systems with not only efficiency for spraying in mind, but also the safety of the flight and ground crews. We ended up also developing and using a completely closed system to load the airplanes that further reduced any exposure risk.
As far as the pay and schedule, this is not a job where you have a set schedule or pay. There is a vast diversity in the mosquito control community between operations. Some are city programs where others are county wide programs. Some cities and counties have full IPM (Insect Pest Management) programs that include the surveillance and the control, both ground and aerial. Lee County, FL is a great example of that kind of program. Others have an IPM programs that includes surveillance and a ground programs, yet contract out aerial services to private corporations. Still other locations choose to outsource the entire control program to a private corporation. I worked for one of the smaller privately owned corporations, so the pay was on the lower end and there was no schedule except work during the peak part of the season. As the aerial job is highly weather dependent and the chemicals must be dispersed not only in the right atmospheric conditions, but also the right time period for the targeted species, you can either be go, go, go or sitting around and waiting. There were times we sat around until we scrubbed the flights, and there were other times we worked every night for weeks on end. I've personally seen nearly 4 straight weeks of work without a day off, days where I've been up all day, only to fly all night as well. I've seen the first light of dawn from low altitude more times than I care to count.
The job is hot, tiring, dangerous, and thankless. It is not for the light hearted and I have seen pilots with thousands of hours not be able to handle the work environment.
Bob Ridpath
Pit Bull love
We used to chase 'em around Sunrise Road, well before "Silent Spring." The DDT fog was cooling on hot Summer days. No one gave it a second thought, way back when ...
Tyler Pinkerton
Well-Known Member
I'm helping lead the restoration of N836M, a previous lee county C47 at the museum I volunteer at.
I believe they now only have two BT-67's and the rest of their fleet is Huey's now. That's how our plane ended up north, being traded for Huey parts. When she was retired in in 2012, she was one of six C-47's they were still using with radials.
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
I've flown out of Buckingham Air Park side by side with the Lee County pilots when they had the C-47s.
They have an awesome program down there and because they are operated by the county, they can do some pretty cool stuff. If memory serves, they have an ordnance in Lee County requiring towers to have reflective material installed. That, combined with infrared light shone from the belly allows those towers to be extremely visible under NVGs.
rjmore
Gastrointestinally Challenged
I grew up in Ft. Myers and used to love watching those guys come over the house barely above the trees. Back then they sprayed in the early morning after sunrise. Got coated with the fog at the bus stop on a regular basis. Then they switched to doing it at night which was still pretty cool. I sat next to their chief pilot (at the time) on a Continental flight and he was willing to let me fly with them part time. Unfortunately my regional schedule never allowed that to come to fruition but I always thought it would be cool.
AAPalmTree
Well-Known Member
I know very little about this stuff. Googled the planes out of curiosity. Found a cool pic:
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
@AAPalmTree
LCMCD C-47s were set up for thermal fogging at one point in time. Looks cool, but you can be more effective using Ultra Low Volume (ULV) applications and not look like you've just blown both engines.
ULV applications for mosquitos range from 0.5 to 5 oz per acre, depending on the chemical being used. Almost invisible during the application process.