KOSCIUSKO — David Eby and staff have done more flights over the local Kosciusko community than usual lately. Children aren’t the only ones who stare in awe as the yellow planes dip low — an astonishing 10 to 15 feet above the crops.

Eby is the owner of Agriflite, a Wakarusa-based company that specializes in aerial application. Yes, that is the technical term. “Crop dusters,” as most people know them, is considered an outdated term for a very up-to-date profession.

In fact, Eby is not only a pilot and certified flight instructor, he is also the creator of AgSync, a highly complex GPS and mapping program that has been able to assist more than 1,000 users across the United States and Canada. “I love flying — I just had to figure out a way to support my bad habit,” laughed Eby.

About The Business

Eby started the business in 1973 when licenses weren’t important or required. He was a one-man operation (with the help of his wife) for the first 20, buying his very first plane on his own, a ‘73 Cessna.

Currently, the company has about nine planes in the air each week. Five of them owned by the company, two managed by Agriflite and two have been brought in for additional manpower. “June was a horrible month as far as getting anything done in the fields,” said Eby. He noted there was a sharp increase this year in the amount of fertilizer that had to be sprayed using aerial application.

In The Air

During flight, a surprisingly small amount of chemicals are actually used. Permethrin is the main ingredient when aerial applicators spray for mosquitoes, essentially the same thing found in bug spray at home. Depending on the application, one acre can be covered with seven-tenths of an ounce to an average of 2 gallons. Typically, 200 to 300 acres can be covered in a one-hour period.

Aerial application over a Leesburg corn field

Pilots wear standard clothing inside the cockpit with the addition of a sturdy helmet, a precautionary measure. According to the Center for Disease Control, “During 1992-2001, a total of 141 persons died in agriculture-related plane crashes.” Not exactly acrobatics, aerial application pilots fly close to tall trees and power lines, creating dangerous conditions. Inside the cockpit, the pilot sees a radar bar that keeps him following a straight path during flight. Pilots must accurately time when to turn off and on the spray nozzles, taking into account winds and speeds.

On average, each plane is flying at a speed of about 160 mph above the crops, dipping low to apply the chemicals and quickly gaining height to avoid power lines. Each plane’s path covers a width of 75 feet, and the GPS keeps track of the rows that have been covered. Using the AgSync technology, the pilot is able to alert land owners when the spraying begins and ends through automatic text message updates. “We couldn’t run our operation without it,” noted Eby, adding his team spent many hours sorting through township plat books to plot routes of land.

Technology has helped change and shape the way the pilots are able to apply the chemicals, and it has been especially useful during the rainy months in Kosciusko County, where aerial applicators can be seen hovering about the fields from sunrise to sunset.

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