dustrpilot

In my opinion, the Air Tractors have very well balanced controls. Not so light that precise maneuvering is difficult, but not so heavy as to be tiring after an hour. Having said that, every one of them seems to fly a little different and some seem to be heavier on the controls than others, but after a 15 hour day, you’ll be tired no matter the controls. After a couple of weeks straight, it just makes you ornery.
I don’t have arthritis in my ankles so it’s hard to say how it would affect you and I don’t consider a tractor clutch to be excessive, but keep in mind you’ll be pushing rudder peddles a lot.



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tbartel

So you are saying your feet get sore anyway after a long day or just that your whole body is tired?

rickair7777

Have you tried glucosamine/chondrotin? Mixed reviews on that but it works great for some folks (including my ankles). Do the homework to get quality product.

tbartel

Thank you to both of you for your responses. You have both been really helpful. So Rickair7777, are you a ag pilot with ankle problems also? And yes, I'll look into that, I have not heard of that before.

tbartel

So are you saying that even without arthritis your ankles do get sore? Or were you meaning that your whole body just gets tired after a long day?

JohnBurke

My ankles pop and grind a bit, but it's my knees that hurt when I fly. It doesn't get me much in turbojet aircraft, but ag airplanes, especially if I get busy and the air is rough , my knees really start to burn and ache. I've had days when it took 45 minutes to get out of the airplane.

There are times when it start to hurt a lot during flying, but I haven't found a time when it's dangerous, such as a case when I was in danger of being unable to operate the rudders.

The only time it should impact you is brake use, and there's not a lot of that until you're taxiing. Otherwise, in flight, it's about like anything else, assuming anything else you fly isn't particularly stable, doesn't trim well, and has a significant CG change on every flight.

rickair7777

Not an ag pilot, but have some cartilage damage from military operations.

badflaps

Before you set your sights on the high dive, see how you do on the low board. Go hang at your local airport, takes some rides, talk to the folks. You will have a much better idea of what might be involved. Best of luck.

tbartel

That's all extremely good advice... I'm definitely going to take some rides before I commit. John Burke, what is it exactly that makes your knees and ankles sore? Is it because your in a cramped cockpit, or pressure on your joints from the rough ride, etc..? I think that would make a difference whether it would bother me. And I'm also wondering if your joints normally never bother bother you... I think in my first few years I'll be flying Pawnees and then I'll hopefully graduate to turboprop if that makes sense... I don't know if this will make a difference but just putting it out there. Thanks you all!

JohnBurke

I learned to fly in a J-3 cub, and like many conventional gear airplanes, there's slack to the rudders and one pushes on the pedals all the time; I grew up from the time I was a kid flying with a fair mount of pressure on both pedals all the time.

In ag airplanes, unless it's dead calm, the rudder is in use most of the time; always in motion and if the stick is moving, so are the rudders. I smashed both knees in a night parachute jump a long time ago when I got dragged through a field of rocks and couldn't get a capewell released to let the parachute go. My knees aren't great. When I fly, I get pain abvoe the knees and beneath them; they hurt a bit after a while, but a full day of flying, they'll be burning.

Most of the joints crackle and pop. A lot of them and a good share of my bones have been broken at one point or another, and everything clicks, hesitates, pops, crackles, or grinds. Put it this way: when I'm done with this one, I won't be getting my deposit back.

The Pawnee isn't a really big cockpit, but its not cramped. Thrushes aren' t a lot bigger, but still not cramped. Air tractors are fairly spacious by comparison. The pawnee, ag cat, even the ag trucks and huskies are a bit cozier by comparison, but nothing objectionable, and considering you're the only one in there, not bad at all.

There are some ag aircraft that have more equipment packed inside, primarily special use aircraft that you will probably never fly.

In the Air Tractor, you can raise or lower the seat, but it wont' move fore and aft. There are three and in some cases four detents on the rudder pedals to move them forward or back. I like closer to me because I want full pedal movement and no difficult with the brake; once the tail is unlocked on the ground, it's all brake for steering. Much of the time that's just as easily done with the pedals neutral, but when working in stiff winds, the rudders are going to be in use all the time, and you'll still need brake.

There's really nothing out there that will simulate ag flying or ag aircraft (simulite has an 802 simulator, but its only real value is for rehearsing engine starts and malfunctions). No aircraft that will really give you a feel for it. Air tractor did produce a side-by side cockpit for training and there are a few out there, but you'd have to get to one...otherwise while there are some dual cockpit ag aircraft, they're not really good trainers, and traditionally, you'll experience your first ag flight solo.

Whereas everything else you fly out there will have some form of training and preparation and usually a checkout or checkride, ag airplane checkouts are normally done plane-side: you're briefed and then you go fly solo.