Jack Holland – Pilot
Jack Holland’s entry into aviation as a teenager started out as a secret mission, financed with the two-dollar hourly wage he earned working on a farm.
As the son of a pilot, Holland knew he wanted to fly. Carl Holland took his son on many flights in the plane he purchased for a farming operation he shared with John Becker near Shirley, just across the border of DeWitt County.
It was 1973 and Holland was a 17-year-old student at Olympia High School when he received permission from the school to forgo a work-study program to attend a second weekly flying lesson in Lincoln.
When he was ready for his solo flight, he invited his parents to the airfield.
Holland said, “I kept it a secret because I didn’t know how it would go over.”
His parents approved of the endeavor that led to a commercial pilot’s certification and the ratings for Multi-engine, instrument, sea planes, gliders and hot air balloon and free balloon (gas) certifications that followed.
“Aviation has led me to a lot of things,” said Holland, who grew up in DeWitt County but lives on a farm just east of McLean.
Like many farmers who develop an equal passion for flying, Holland found a way to incorporate aviation into his life. A call from a friend living in Florida who was involved in the agriculture flying business put Holland on the path to manage an aerial agriculture application business, commonly known as crop dusting.
Holland’s air strip became a satellite location for Curless Flying Service Inc., a large spraying operation based in Astoria, Ill. Holland was not involved in agricultural spraying as a pilot but frequently used his planes to shuttle pilots and pick-up parts for needed aircraft repairs.
“My pick-up truck was a Beechcraft Bonanza,” Holland said of his flying workhorse.
The spraying season is short but intensive.
Starting around July 4th though September, pilots are in the air about ten hours per day. The time spent in the hangar loading agricultural products adds to the workday. The rigorous schedule is maintained seven days a week, daylight to dark.
Curless’ customer base for the satellite location includes about a dozen fertilizer plants in central Illinois. On one of its busiest days, the operation loaded and reloaded six planes that sprayed 16,000 acres. Though the goal is to keep pilots within 30 miles of Holland Field, pilots occasionally fly as far as sixty miles from McLean.
Pilots come from outside Illinois to work with the aerial application crew. The business attracts pilots from states like Louisiana, Florida and Arizona, where the busy season is the opposite of central Illinois’ farming schedule.
Holland has retired from farming and management of the crop dusting operation, but a lease agreement will allow Curless pilots to continue to use Holland’s facilities. Holland still flies for fun, about 75 hours a year, in an American Champion Scout housed on the property.
Flying, he said, serves as “a stress reliever.”
One of the planes previously kept in Holland’s hangar was the Vans RV-7 he built from scratch. The two-year project was completed in February 2005.
A flight from central Illinois to DuPage County in a PT-17 Stearman with a special passenger on board holds special memories for Holland.
“One of the greatest things was when I took my Dad flying,” he said. Holland had flown the biplane from Alabama and stopped on route to DuPage County. His father, the inspiration for his love of all things that take flight, enjoyed the ride.
Recent Comments