AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 1958 - (Page 37) Sometimesit's straight and level. Low-flying t o p sprays Colombian sotton Said Bump, "Maybe it WN lack One of the most sidlttful professionals in the dusting and spraying and maybe it was the spraying^ operations of Colombia's mountain The large letters "SMARTA" on country is an American pilot from the Piper PA-18 Stand for, "SaBt& 'Syracuse,N. Y ,87-year-old David T, Msrta Trabajoa Aerros Limitada", . &uap (AOPA 8794). He has fceteB aad to the comp'any'~ founder, Arthur making applicator runs in that South W. (Tommy) Thompson, it has meant American country for four years. that this particular spraying operaTelling you how to handlea plane tioil, establrahed four year8 ago, over the difficult Andean terrain, and joiist with air currents, Bump tors. laughs a little. Bump joined SMARTA two years "Realty, the flying is easy," he says, ago and teas a 25% interest in the "but Wa a -terrible way to treat 4 corepaay. Plying with him we plane." Tommy Thompson and Aldo LeoCrop apmytng i this rugged corn- hardi, an Italian by nationality, who n try ie certainly not done by the book. has lived in Colombia most of bis life. L&e the precision mountjEiin flying Capitan Carlos Contento, also a pilot, itself, success against weeds and in- concentrates on managing the consect; vlaga is a matter of ups and tracts, schedules and bushesit details. downs. Sometimestbe chemical trieea. SMARTA OTCSS four Piper PA-18A Sometimes, well, you wonder, &e" cropspraying planes and three other eently Bump took o a mountain light aircraft, a Eellanca Craisair n slope spraying job in & 40-aere area and two Republic Seabe#$. The last below snow-capped Nevada del Quh- threeplaneaareusedinoneofthe dio. The object waa to rid pasture compahfs other ventures, a hunting of weeds and brush. The immediate and fishing "farm" in the Uguws at and embarrassing result of his woric Colombia. waa the apparent death of a l the l 'Though parti,cularly well orgaabeneficial plants i a, nearby field of h d , the SMAETA operation is not n his Customer's nftifi-hbof.The weeds unique in Latin America. and brush on the treated area conIn recent years, as the Central tinned to flourish. Two months later American "banana republics" have fhe neighbor'^ plants revived and the' attempted to diversify their crops, weeds and brush died. large numbers of American pilots Bump gave a, spectacular demon- have flocked t o Central America to stration of the benefits of chemical become aerial crop applicators. Estitreatment by p~oeeedingwith an ex- mated have tint the number of Ameriperimental fungicide attack o n dis- can duster pilots betwen 300 and 400 eased coffeeplants which expert opin- hi Central America alone. Many of ion had declared beyosd salvage. these AT? 'former Air Force or cornWithin one year after aerial applica- mercial airline pilots who have been tabu of chemical, the plantation was attracted by the high wages paid for producing 80% nonnal crop, and the dusting cotton fields during the flvefollowing year had totally recovered. or six-month growing season. MARCH, 1958 Marshal Hamell, writing for the North American Newspaper Alliance, reported a few months ago that duster pilots in Central America can wrn between $300 and 21,000 a wwkf depending upon the weather. However, these pilots often risk their necks flying equipment that is not always, in top repair,and which often auld not passt XL S. Civil Aeronautics Administration inspection. The chief crop in Colombia, oa f Contimwd iw pas* f a ) Bump and customer, a hacienda owner, plot cwifsa
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.