| 85 “Our right to work is about doing best practice, and that’s why we’re part of NZAAA. Doing the right thing is our right to work, and the association plays a big part in that. Farmers Air has been a member of NZAAA probably since its inception in 1978.” Some regulation changes ‘unworkable’ Farmers Air is one of New Zealand’s longest-running privately owned agricultural aviation companies. Kelly Deeks Fixed wing topdressing pilot and E Cat and agricultural flight examiner Andrew Hogarth is back on the New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) committee with the aim of helping the association to achieve some of the goals it wants to achieve for its members. Andrew is the owner of Gisborne agricultural aviation application company Farmers Air, one of New Zealand’s longest-running privately owned agricultural aviation companies. It was his lifelong dream to be a topdressing pilot and after attaining his commercial in Nelson and building hours flying skydiving aircraft in New Zealand, Australia, and the USA, he met then Farmers Air CEO Andy Stevenson by chance on a Friday, and was loading for him the following Monday. Andy started Andrew’s ag rating a few months later. Andrew worked his way through Farmers Air from loader driver, pilot, E Cat, chief pilot, then general manager then purchased the company in 2014. “I get a real kick out of training new ag pilots and seeing their progression from a CPL to a Grade 1 Agricultural pilot who performs their tasks efficiently and safely,” he says. Andrew has previously sat on the NZAAA committee and its safety and training sub-committee. He is committed to setting and maintaining high standards across the industry and has been really impressed with the improvements he has seen in operators’ daily operations since the new licensing requirements around agricultural ratings in his role as E Cat and agricultural flight examiner. Andrew says the Association has real structure to it now with immediate past Chairman and Executive Officer Tony Michelle having worked hard on communications between the association and its members, and current chairman Bruce Peterson taking a proactive approach to addressing members’ concerns in a timely manner. “It’s pleasing to see the NZAAA as an outcomedriven association which has great working relationship with regulators, other associations, iwi and regional councils,” Andrew says. “We’re here to make sure we are doing the best we can for our members, particularly across all the regulation changes that are happening.” Agricultural pilots in New Zealand have a lot of regulators looking at their businesses, including the Civil Aviation Authority, WorkSafe, and NZ Transport Agency, as well as working to regulations around agri-chemicals and fuels. Their right to work depends on complying with each regulation, but Andrew says some recent regulation changes are RURAL SERVICES » Farmers Air Authorised Dealer PHONE (06) 868 0494 GISBORNE HYDRAULIC SERVICES THE BIG YELLOW BUILDING CNRLYTTON&AWAPUNIRDS • HYDRAULIC - HOSES - PUMPS - RAMS • AIR RAMS • WOOL PRESS • SHEEP CONVEYOR • DOZERS • COMPRESSORS • LOG SPLITTERS • CATTLE CRUSH • DIGGERS • POST RAMMERS • TRACTOR IMPLEMENTS • FRONT END LOADERS • DRAFTING GATES • HOISTS AND MORE! YOUR HYDRAULIC AND PNEUMATIC SPECIALISTS P: 06 838 8282 M: 027 483 0644 | 027 230 8713 proving unworkable, such as Hawke’s Bay Regional Council limiting take offs and landings on agricultural airstrips, which Andrew says the limiting yearly could be flown in a few hours of agricultural operations, which would severely impact operators businesses and decrease farm productivity. “Our right to work is about doing best practice, and that’s why we’re part of NZAAA. Doing the right thing is our right to work, and the association plays a big part in that. Farmers Air has been a member of NZAAA probably since its inception in 1978.” Farmers Air remains dedicated to serving its local community which still has a challenging year ahead in its recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle. Land and infrastructure damage continues to have a trickledown economic effect with work and job losses for both farmers and other local businesses and service providers, and Farmers Air is mindful of the challenges the community is facing.
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