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Agricultural flying is some of the most difficult and challenging flying around. Agricultural companies will often employ qualified pilots to work on the ground as loader drivers. Due to the demands of Ag flying you need to have an Ag rating before you can fly on Ag operations. It can cost a company up to fifty thousand dollars to get an inexperienced pilot up and running on Ag operations, some experienced Ag pilots say it takes up to a year of flying full time before you will actually become productive for the company so there is a large investment necessary from both parties. Duties performed by ground crew on Ag operations include but are not limited to:

• Driving support vehicles from base to operations area (early starts and late finishes).
• Mixing and loading chemical into spray tanks, loading fertiliser buckets.
• Cleaning Helicopters and spray gear at the end of each day.
• Refueling the helicopter and pumps during the day.
• Maintenance of  equipment and general hanger duties.

The agricultural career path is generally a longer one to get started and for good reason, in a single day you could be spraying pesticide on pine plantations at a high density altitude in the morning and slinging a bucket of fertiliser around in the afternoon. The days can be very long and you are low level and heavy most of the time. Pilots often stay in Ag longer than other positions so you may not move up the ladder to a flying position until someone moves on or the company expands. A lot can be learn't working on the ground, watching and listening. Once you do get a start though the money is good and the skills you learn are invaluable in future flying positions.