Image: blog.covingtonaircraft.com

It sure is fun to pull off to the side of the road and watch those agricultural planes do their work. These planes make a sweet sound as they swoop over country roads to spray a field. The lightweight plane is maneuverable and the pilot knows it. Going upside down, twists and turns are all part of the game. But most people don’t understand just how crucial the old “Ag plane” is to the business of farming crops.

When you don’t see those colorful little planes flying over a farm, you can rest assured there is a lot of money being lost. The true cost of a grounded agriculture plane is difficult to see from the outside looking in.

Farming is time sensitive. No amount of technology can change that. There is a time to seed, a time to feed, a time to spray and a time to harvest. Mother Earth dictates these times with her seasons and the Ag plane needs to be ready when the time is right.

A lot of work is done on the ground before those little planes get up into the air. The farm needs to till the earth and prepare irrigation. That is plenty of costly man hours right there, so if the plane isn’t ready to fly and seed the ground, all that money is lost. The farm might get away with seeding a little late, but the seeding process is time sensitive.

If the crops have begun to grow and the plane can’t fly, then the crops are robbed of fertilizer and pesticide. Entire fields could be lost, which means more man hours pulling up the useless plants and disposing of them. Common reasons for grounded planes are poor turbine engine maintenance, but the people over at Covington Aircraft can take care of that. Covington Aircraft’s expert service will make sure those colorful, spry, fun planes will never be grounded again.