Former crop duster pilot flies again
One of the last of Madera County’s early crop duster pilots took to the skies Friday afternoon in an aircraft similar to the one he once flew just feet from the crops of local farmers.
Ray Pool’s ride in a Stearman opencockpit biplane was made possible by pilot Bill Hoffrage.
In the early afternoon at Sierra Sky Park, Hoffrage watched as Pool climbed in the front cockpit of the two-seat biplane. He asked if the octogenarian flyer needed a small stool to get over the fuselage and into the seat.
“I can get up there OK,” Pool said, and settled in to check out the controls...