OPERATOR PROFILE | General Airspray SKIES Magazine 40 skiesmag.com FIELD OF Agricultural spraying is a small, specialized profession most pilots never get to experience. But it’s both a passion and a way of life for General Airspray of Lucan, Ont. BY BEN FORREST | PHOTOS BY ERIC DUMIGAN n the hour or so after sunrise on a foggy, humid day in mid-July, Saugeen Municipal Airport in rural southwestern Ontario, near the small town of Hanover, was an oasis of calm. Birds chirped intermittently and insects hummed as dew clung to the shiny fuselage I of a twin-engine Diamond DA-42-TDI, the only aircraft parked within striking distance of the 4,500-foot asphalt runway. This is farm country, where 50-acre plots of corn—the kind destined for animal feed and ethanol production— spring up from some of the most fertile soil in the province, in gently-rolling fields bordered by thick woodlots. Over the next 45 minutes, the airport comes to life. A DA-42 pilot arrives, goes through pre- flight checks, starts the engines, taxis and takes off. Cars begin to fill the parking lot, and staff in the terminal restaurant serve their first customers of the day.