Sindag defines those honored with the Agricultural Aviation Merit

Agricultural engineers Alan McCracken and Marcos Vilela de Magalhães Monteiro will be honored by Sindag with this year's Agricultural Aviation Merit medal. The award ceremony will take place during the Agricultural Aviation Dinner, on the 19th, at 20 pm. The event will take place at the Clovis Candiota Arena, in the Zanini Events Center pavilion, on the first day of the Brazilian Agricultural Aviation Congress (AvAg Congress), in Sertãozinho/SP. The highest distinction in Brazilian agricultural aviation, the award aims to recognize the achievements of professionals who contributed significantly to the growth and evolution of the sector.

Launched in 2017, the first winners of the medal were agronomists Eduardo Cordeiro Araújo and José Carlos Christofoletti. The following year, the recipients were the American aeronautical engineer Leland Snow and the agronomist Yasuzo Ozeki (both in memoriam) and, in 2019 (the last in-person edition of the AvAg Congress, due to the restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic), the distinction went to the Air Force lieutenant colonel Marialdo Rodrigues Moreira, aeroagricultural businessman Euclides de Carli (both in memoriam) and agronomist and professor Wellington Pereira Alencar de Carvalho.

Among the country's pioneers

At 84 years old, Marcos Vilela de Magalhães Monteiro has an intense career spanning more than six decades contributing to the Brazilian aeroagricultural sector. Graduated in Agronomy in 1959, he was one of the first 10 pilots trained in the first edition of the former Agricultural Aviation Course (Cavag), in 1967. Two years later, he completed his doctorate in Agronomy at the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (Esalq ), from the University of São Paulo (Usp).

In more than 60 years of professional activities, Marcos Vilela has developed or introduced important equipment and technologies for phytosanitary defense, especially in agricultural aviation – such as ultra-low volume (UBV), rotary atomizers, electrostatic systems, thermal inversion sensors and others. Furthermore, as an instructor accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture, he has trained more than 4 thousand agricultural technicians and agronomists, respectively, in courses for executors (CEAA) and agricultural aviation coordinators (CCAA).

Having already spoken at congresses organized by Sindag, Vilela shares his knowledge with the sector since the first aeroagricultural event took place in Brazil, in 1971. In addition to being a speaker at the event, he was the one who chaired the Board of Directors of the 1st Annual Meeting of Brazilian Aerial Applicators , which took place in July of that year, at Parque Anhembi, in São Paulo.

The meeting was promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture within the 3rd Agricultural Technique Fair and was attended by none other than Clóvis Gularte Candiota and Ada Rogato (first man and woman agricultural pilots in the country), Eduardo Araújo (winner of medal no. Merit of Agricultural Aviation), of lieutenant colonel Marialdo Moreira (posthumously honored with medal no. 1) and other pioneers, such as Joaquim Eugênio (Joaquim da Broca) and Orlando Bombini.  

From the world to Brazil

Born in Coleraine, in the north of Ireland, and the son of farmers, Alan McCracken currently resides in Daytona Beach, in the US state of Florida. At 77 years old (completed on June 16), he has already traveled to 134 countries working on his two passions: agriculture and mechanics. Agricultural and mechanical engineer graduated from the Essex Institute of Agriculture, currently Writtle University College, in Essex, England, and an extension in Aerial Applications at Cranfield College of Aeronautics, now Cranfield University, in Cranfield (about 80 kilometers from London).

The new nominee for the Brazilian Agricultural Aviation Merit tells how his passion for the sector was awakened while working on experiments in Poland and Romania. A Portuguese speaker, McCracken built a career as one of the world's greatest experts in the application of chemicals, both to protect crops and to combat mosquitoes. Helping a lot in improving the Brazilian aeroagricultural sector.

Country where he arrived for the first time in 1973, to introduce techniques for aerial and terrestrial applications in soybean desiccation. Three years later, the potential for greater use of aircraft in this type of operation was the topic of his presentation at the 1st National Symposium of Aeroagricultural Operators, promoted by Embraer in the city of Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo. From then on, his work increased here, he participated in most of the aeroagricultural events held since then and visited Brazil almost monthly – until the arrival of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.