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Meet an Operator
Heinen Brothers Agra Services op- erates more than a dozen bases outside of its home in Northeastern Kansas. Naturally, most of the company’s lo- cations mirror states with the heavi- est concentrations of aerial applica- tion operations, including Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, South Dakota and Louisiana. Oper- ating around 20 aircraft, the compa- ny’s pilots f ly several hundred hours per year over an average four- to
five-month season (with July and Au- gust as the season’s peak).
Scott Heinen, a commercial pilot and aviation science graduate, found- ed the outfit in 1994. After growing up on a farm with an early interest in aviation, combining the two ar- eas wound up being a natural career fit. Shortly after creating what was then known as Nemaha Valley Aerial, Scott’s younger brother Glenn began working for the company while in high school and soon became one of
its full-time pilots. Glenn had more of an interest in the crop science side of the business and went on to earn a degree in Agronomy. While still in college, the younger Heinen took on more of a formal role within the com- pany and ultimately became a full partner in 1999.
The brothers’ skills and interests are a natural complement to one an- other, enabling the company to grow significantly from a two-men, one- plane operation. Yearly, the company’s pilots spray several hundred thousand acres of fields, ranches and other lands where either the terrain is too rough for equipment or aerial spraying is more efficient.
“What we spray depends on which region we are operating in,” said Scott. “For example, in Kansas, we predominately see corn, wheat, and [soy] beans. But in the South, we see some different things like cotton.”
This diversification in spraying lo- cation and crop type has enabled the company to grow in size and scope and lessen concern if a particular crop experiences hardship. For instance, Scott noted the stay at home orders resulting from COVID-19 negatively affected vehicle driving hours, reduc- ing the need for corn used in Ethanol.
Ag Flying
To an even higher degree than other types of flying, crop dusting is heavily reliant upon weather, which dictates how many of the seven days that the pilots can fly. On flying days, the job is truly a “sunup to sundown” affair, and pilots can be hard-pressed to spend much of their day outside of the cock- pit. During my visit to Seneca, the job’s intense demands were reiterated by everyone I spoke with, yet never in a resentful tone that perhaps people in other professions who are “forced” to work all day may express.
Glenn spoke positively about how the previous day he had flown for 15 hours, with roughly 15-minute breaks for fuel and rest. Seeing as money comes in only when crops are being sprayed, the industry standard is to turn and burn as long as there is light, only shutting down the planes when work is done for the evening.
12 • TWIN & TURBINE / August 2020
PHOTO BY AUTHOR
PHOTO BY AUTHOR