Flight Training - November/December 2024 - 49

ADVANCED PILOT CAREER PILOT
CAREER FLYING IN
SMALL-TOWN AMERICA
IS AERIAL-APPLICATION FLYING FOR YOU?
BY PETER A. BEDELL
AVIATION HAS MANY CAREER PATHS, SUCH
as pilot, mechanic, avionics tech, air traffic
controller, and dispatcher to name a few.
One of the less mainstream career paths
is aerial application, also known as crop
dusting. Agricultural aviation is big business
in small-town America. If checking in
for work in a uniform with a funny hat at
a major airline hub isn't your thing, aerial
application may be right for you.
Allen Chorman and Son Inc. is the
largest aerial applicator on the Delmarva
peninsula, an agricultural mecca
comprising Delaware and the eastern
portions of Maryland and Virginia.
Delmarva is not far from some large
cities-Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and
Philadelphia-but you'd never know it
from the scenery and the slow pace of life
in the area. It's a whole 'nother world east
of the Chesapeake Bay.
Chorman's predecessor, Joe Hudson,
started his operation at the Rehoboth
Airport 75 years ago. Rehoboth is long
gone thanks to development that has
one hour after sunset to an hour before
sunrise to carry passengers during that
same period. Conceivably, a pilot might
not have flown at night in years but land
with passengers 59 minutes after sunset
and still follow the rules-legal but
hardly safe. Appropriate personal minimums
can include flying with passengers
between sunrise and sunset if recent
" night " experience is lacking.
Night operations present an opportunity
for instructors to engage in a
rich discussion with students. Instead
of merely memorizing regulations, ask
students to explain why they make sense.
And develop personal minimums when
they don't. FT
CATHERINE CAVAGNARO teaches aerobatics
at Franklin County Airport and is the Gaston
Swindell Bruton Professor of Mathematics at
Sewanee: The University of the South.
FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
49
swarmed Delaware's coastal Atlantic
beaches. When the city folks escape to
the shore every weekend, this portion of
Delaware gets a lot of transient traffic.
Because of this, Chorman moved the
operation inland in 1991.
While jet flying seems to get the lion's
share of attention when it comes to pilot
career paths, it can be a monotonous job.
Aerial application is the opposite. You fly
alone in a big, expensive, single-engine
airplane carrying a hopper full of high-dollar
seed or chemicals. Your living is made
by dropping your payload from less than
10 feet above the ground while performing
dramatic wingover course-reversal
maneuvers. It's not easy flying, but it is
thrilling, mentally rewarding, and requires
excellent piloting skills. It can also pay
well if you're willing to put in the long
days of hard work.
" We don't want cowboys here. This
is a very serious operation that we're
doing, " said Jeff Chorman, son of company
founder and current president of the
CHRIS ROSE
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