Business Rural Winter 2021

| 83 Flying in the blood and an enduring passion Virginia Wright RURAL SERVICES » Cheviot Ag-Air J im Somerville, owner and pilot for Cheviot Ag-Air Ltd since he took over from his father Neville in 2010, is no stranger to things either mechanical or aeronautical. After a couple of years working on farms when he left school he spent seven years with the Air Force where he did an aeronautical engineering apprenticeship as well as doing his pilot’s license while he was there. When he got out he trained as an Ag-pilot before returning to Cheviot at the age of 25. But flying was in his blood long before that, thanks to his father. “I used to go out on jobs with him growing up so I knew about flying in that way,” explains Jim. “He flew a two-seater and the other seat carried the loader driver, so my friends and I used to jump in the hopper and fly to the job with Dad and play around the strip while he did the job then fly back home. I completed my Ag-training with Andrew Whelan in Blenheim.” Jim’s father started Cheviot Ag-Air in 1987 al- though he’d been top-dressing around Cheviot with Peter Rowley since 1966. When Jim took over the business in 2010 he bought the largest of the three planes in the company, a Fletcher, with the original Cessna Ag-wagon being sold to a local farmer and the Fatman going to Bill Birch of Motunau Ag-Air. While Bill works south of the Hurunui, Jim continues to service north of the Hurunui through to Marlbor- ough and west as far as Lewis Pass. Jim’s been flying the same plane since he first started working with his father back in 1993. The workhorse of the Cheviot Ag-Air business, a Fletcher topdressing aircraft. “It’s only had two owners,” Jim explains. “We had it re-built a few years ago by AV-Tech in Timaru but I’ve done 20,000 hours in it since we first bought it from it’s base in Nelson in 1993.” Installing the first GPS technology in 1996 brought a whole new level of precision to their delivery of fertilizer from the air, with on-board guidance systems meaning pilots could start a run within inches of the one before. “Before that we just did it by eye,” says Jim, “now we’ve not only got more evenness of spread but you can knock off due to wind or poor weather and not be able to get back for three weeks and go straight back to the same run and start within a foot of where you left off.” Jim works with two loader drivers rotating through four and three day rosters respectively and working four loaders between them. “When the season starts one loader will head over to Hanmer area,” says Jim, “and another one heads up to Kaikoura with another couple operating around Cheviot. It gives us a lot of flexibility having the loaders out there already. We can just ring the farmer in the morning and if it’s blowing too hard or something we’ve got the time to just go to another job.” It’s a seasonal lifestyle with the spring season traditionally starting in August and autumn in February and a month or so at the end of each for maintenance and holidays. It’s a rhythm that agrees with Jim, doing a job he loves. “Flying through beautiful hill country ,watching wild game looking back at you. Getting out into the back country on a nice day with only the sound of birds in the background going about their business as you’re having your lunch.” It’s all part of a day’s work for Jim. “He flew a two-seater and the other seat carried the loader driver, so my friends and I used to jump in the hopper and fly to the job with Dad and play around the strip while he did the job then fly back home.” 027 4355779 or 03 319 2857 manager@mendiphills.co.nz Mendip Hills Station Mendip Hills Station are proud to support Jim at Cheviot Ag Air CARRIERS OF LIVESTOCK, GENERAL FREIGHT, BULK & FERTILISER CHEVIOT TRANSPORT 2017 LTD 99 Ward Rd, Cheviot 7310 P: 03 319 8644 A/H: 0276 776 787 AVIATION TEKNOLOGY LIMITED (AIRCRAFT ENGINEERS AIRCRAFT SALES) Non-dest Annual Reviews of Airworthiness Cheviot Ag Air Ltd RICHARD PEARSE AIRPORT Timaru, New Zealand - PO Box 89, Geraldine Phone: (03) 688 2189 • Mobile: 021 324 539 (Bruce) or 021 226 3463 (Neil) Email: bruce@avtek.co.nz