UNITED STATES
TWENTY YEARS AGO
A Pawnee By No Other Name? by Bill Lavender
Left: Vortices are
RIBEIRÃO PRETO, BRAZIL- During a trip to Brazil last summer, I was able to meet with José Paulo Rodrigues Garcia, simply known as Garcia, owner of Garcia Aviacao Agricola, Ltda. Garcia owns a Pawnee outiftted with winglets, that I was anxious to fly.
much smaller with the winglets… Right: ...than without them.
B 32 | agairupdate.com
Like so many ag pilots, my first spray season in 1974 was flown in a Pawnee. My particular type Pawnee was known as a Hutcherson Pawnee with metal wings and fuselage, spring steel gear and a 250-horsepower engine (O-540 Lycoming with high compression pistons requiring 100 octane av gas). To me, the “metal” Pawnee flew better than the rag wing of that day. This was before the fuel cells were in the wings, but
instead were installed in the fuselage between the hopper and the engine. These early model Pawnees’ nose bowl was painted red. We used to make jokes (not very funny if it was you) that the red nose of the Pawnee was nothing more than the end of a match stick! Of course, this was because of the danger of the fuel bladder so close to the engine, with the red nose bowl striking the ground causing many times the aircraft to burst into flames, and the demise of the pilot, a widow maker. Later in my ag aviation career (1980), one of the ag planes the company I owned (ironically ➤
