The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1961. Agricultural Aviation

Press, Volume C, Issue 29497, 26 April 1961, Page 14

The Press WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1961. Agricultural Aviation

A recent symposium on agricultural aviation conducted by the Canterbury branch of the Institute of Agricultural Science has drawn attention to some of the problems involved in the use of this valuable and comparatively new adjunct to the age old activity of farming. Facts and figures given in a paper by Mr D. R. Wilkie, soil conservator

of the Department of Agriculture at Christchurch,

indeed, suggest that the further development of any considerable acreage under cultivation in New Zealand must depend upon service from the air. Eleven years of service may be summed up in two facts given by Mr Wilkie: the agricultural aviation industry has given the equivalent of 7 million man hours at a time when the fanning industry has been short of labour; and about half the increase of 15 million sheep and 1 million cattle in the last 11 years has been due primarily to aerial services. Regarding the future, Mr Wilkie spoke of 30 million acres of unploughable land among the 44 million acres “ occupied ” in the country. Of these 30 million acres, about 30 million are amenable to such aerial services as fertilising, pest and weed eradication, dropping supplies of fencing posts, wire, etc. A rapidly-expanding population will surely find it necessary to put these acres into service in the years ahead.

Whether aerial farming will be able to maintain the level of service it has given in recent years, let alone expand to meet future demands, is an anxious question. The industry has gone beyond the “ pioneer- “ ing ” stage, in which it adapted for its purposes the aircraft that were available after the war. Manufacturers are now making, light aircraft specially for aerial farming (though the ideal machine has by no means been achieved); heavier aircraft are being adapted to cover large areas with fertiliser at low cost; and the helicopter—with obvious advantages in such matters as runways and precision work at low levels—is coming more and more into use. The major difficulty now facing the industry is

a shortage of experienced pilots; unless this problem is solved the industry cannot look ahead with any measure of confidence. The war-time, pilots who took up topdressing work are now retiring; and there is no influx of pilots to replace them. Agricultural aviation in New Zealand imposes heavy, burdens on pilots. That is obvious to anyone who is familiar with the type of country that can be brought into production and kept in production only by aviation. Some of the agricultural aviation companies are able to give some hours of specialised instruction to pilots who have graduated from the aero clubs with commercial

licences; but many have not sufficient resources. Last month, when replying to an inquiry from “The Press” about fatal accidents to aerial ■ topdressing pilots, the Director of Civil Aviation (Sir Arthur Nevill) said that “there would “ appear to be some element “of inexperience in the more “ recent accidents ”, and that both the Civil Aviation Administration and the industry were aware of the shortage of fully-trained pilots. He added that ways and means of improving the standard of training and the availability of pilots are being-examined. It may be doubted whether this inquiry is enough. At the symposium an experienced operator in agricultural aviation, Mr C. Brazier, managing director of Airwork (New Zealand), Ltd., suggested that the Meat and Wool Boards, which have assisted the industry by making money available for replacement aircraft, might lend money to train pilots for the industry. The producer boards might well regard such a scheme as a prudent method of protecting an industry upon which the expansion of wool and meat farming must unquestionably depend. But primarily the question seems one in which the Ministers of Agriculture and Civil Aviation should jointly interest themselves with the object of ensuring that as far as Government interest can provide it, the future of a service vital to New Zealand farming will be i safeguarded.