Crop duster Seth Denton checks the controls in the cockpit of his plane while doing a pre-flight check.
Seth Denton is mere feet off the ground flying his bright yellow crop duster over a 150-acre wheat field east of Athena. On each pass, he pulls up in the nick of time to safely clear the power lines just across rural Pambrun Road.
Yet Denton, whose father, Larry, runs Marsh Aviation LLC serving the region’s farming community, doesn’t think about his job as being dangerous.
“It’s really as safe as you make it,” he said. “If you plan things out ahead of time, take care of the plane and yourself, it’s really not too bad.”
While more farmers are investing in ground rigs for spraying fertilizer, pesticides and fungicide on their crops, Denton said there is still a solid market for aerial application — commonly referred to as crop dusting, though guys in the business today are trying to get away from that term as the technology becomes more sophisticated.
In the old days of crop dusting, pilots flew planes converted from leftover World War II fighters and were guided by actual flagmen standing on the ground, Denton said. Now, the aircraft have become larger, more efficient and specifically designed for agricultural work.
Denton’s own plane, an Air Tractor model AT-401, is also equipped with GPS on board and a light bar attached to the nose of the aircraft that lets him know where to spray on the next pass.
“We’ve come a long way,” Denton said. “It’s a lot more precise.”
Denton, 24, is the only full-time pilot left at Marsh Aviation. Larry Denton, 80, was forced to give up his license after failing a flight physical required every year by the Federal Aviation Administration.
June and July is their busiest time of year, Seth Denton said. That’s when field peas have to be sprayed for pests, and winter wheat creeps closer to summer harvest.
On Monday, Denton was hired to spray fungicide over a wheat field about five miles down the road for local grower John Adams. Without treatment, the crop is susceptible to wheat leaf rust, a disease capable of reducing yield by as much as 20 percent.
Denton recalls a particularly bad rust infestation two years ago.
“That was a good year for us, but a bad year for farmers,” he said.
Before taking off, Denton fuels up the Air Tractor and loads 250 gallons of fungicide into the pivot tank. It will take three loads, or 750 gallons total, to complete the job.
With his tan flight suit and slicked-back hair, Denton certainly looks the part of a daring pilot. Once up in the sky, he said he takes a few minutes to circle the field and check for any obstructions such as trees, buildings and, yes, power lines.
Just as important is wind speed and direction, since chemicals can drift into other neighboring fields and potentially cause serious problems. It is even against the law to spray during an inversion, Denton said, since particles can get trapped in the air and spread for miles.
“It can put you out of business if it’s bad enough,” he said.
From there, Denton flies anywhere between one and 10 feet over the field he’s spraying — low enough to make sure the chemical penetrates to the ground while ensuring good, even coverage.
Denton began flying when he was 16, and earned his commercial pilot license in 2011. He’s been spraying ever since, and is planning to someday take over as owner and manager of Marsh Aviation.
Larry Denton bought the operation in 1980, and at the time he had four planes in his fleet. He has since sold all but one of the planes, which remains at the hangar and airstrip located along Pambrun Road, just beyond the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation boundary.
Part of the issue is declining business, and part is greater efficiency, Larry Denton said. There was a time when flying 50,000 acres was considered a bad year. Now, they’re optimistic to keep flying 30,000 acres.
Despite that, there are definite advantages to spraying from the air, as opposed to on the ground.
“(Farmers) still turn to an aerial applicator because we cover the ground more quickly,” Larry Denton said. “And if it’s too wet, they need us to (apply) because they can’t get the ground rigs out.”
Seth Denton agreed, adding they can get better coverage of the crop and avoid losses from running over plants in the trucks.
“We’re fortunate there are a lot of farmers who still value our work,” he said.
It’s the job Seth Denton grew up with, and the one he hopes to keep doing until he retires.
“It’s neat to fly every day,” he said. “We’re really passionate about what we do. We look forward going to work.”
