Dust Up world premiere held in Nipawin

By Melissa Mangelsen/Nipawin Journal

 Bud Jardine, Brennan Jardine and Travis Karle may be rivals in their businesses, but they came together, May 26, for the World Premiere Screening of Dust Up, which is a six-episode series, set to premier on History Television, June 2 at 7 p.m., (local time).

The three crop dusting pilots put their bitterness behind them for the premiere, coming out prior to the screening to meet with the public, answer questions and put on an air show at the Nipawin Airport.

Travis gave some youngsters a thrill as he hoisted them into the small cockpit of his plane.

The air show, displayed how dangerous the job is, as the pilots sped past spectators at 150 mph, five feet off of the ground.

Bud said he was looking forward to seeing the series on the screen, as it was not only the first time the people of Nipawin got to see Episode 1, but the first time the pilots saw it as well.

"It's great to get out here and meet with people too," said Bud, the 73-year-old crop dusting pilot.

"It was a great excuse to get everyone together after a long winter indoors," said Brennan at the air show.

When asked if they considered each other competition, they all gave a quick "yes."

As Episode 1, entitled It Looked Like Death, showed, the series is more than a feature on crop dusting, it tells compelling stories about family feuds, resourcefulness and survival in the rural heartland. Feuds as well as bad blood weren't hard to find during the half hour episode.

Episode 1, which was premiered to Nipawin at 8:30 p.m., at the Nipawin Evergreen Centre, showed the struggles of Brennan after one of his pilots crashed. While Bud and Brennan were busy dealing with the crash of the plane, Karle, who is a new crop duster in the area, moves in on their territory.

Over 600-hours of footage was filmed during the taping of the series.

"People were really amazed at the stunning photography," said Executive Producer/Co-Creator Shannon Jardine.

Executive Producer/Co-Creator/Director Terry Mialkowsky, was also there for the event, and urged people to watch the series as well as tell their friends and family to watch as well.

"If we get a good audience, there could be more shows in the future," he said.

Travis said at first the experience was a little scary. "It's hard getting used to doing the job with cameras around. You're trying really hard to do it right, but were still making mistakes because of the nervousness of the cameras."

Brennan said the best things happened when he was able to forget about the cameras.

"I think it was tougher for the camera men to kind of stay ahead of us. They were always running around and anticipating our next move," he said. "It was a learning curve for both sides."

Brennan noted though, that as time went on, it became easier to forget about the cameras.

"I'd be singing in my plane and not even noticing it," he laughed. Though the parts of him singing had to be cut out due to copywritten songs.

"It takes a lot of courage to allow the camera's to follow you around, they're in their personal lives, and their business lives," said Shannon. "That was a tough time too because of the crash of Brennan's plane, as well as the hard times for farming," she said.

The documentary was filled last June, and took until mid-October to complete.

"It really shows the beauty of the area from a perspective that most people don't see. When you see it from up in the air it's so different. The aerial photography is stunning."

This is the first time that Nipawin has been featured in a documentary on a national level, and Shannon said this is something she's been really excited for.

"I'm excited to see my dad, brother and Travis on TV. It's exciting to be able to s how where we come from and what we do. We have amazing stories and we do amazing things here," said Shannon.

The first two episodes will be June 2, with episode one being called "It looked like death," and episode two titled "A sprayers paradise."

Episode three, called "The new Bermuda Triangle and episode four called "Family Business," can been seen June 9.

Episode five, "The winds of change," and Episode six, "Killing frost/tempers thaw," can be seen June 16.

Crop dusting is among the world's most dangerous jobs, as Brennan notes in the series, nearly everyone he knows has crashed during their careers.

The job is made dangerous due to high speeds, inches above the fields. To make their job harder they are dodging trees and telephone wires as well as other hazards they may encounter.

In the world of crop dusting, they only have a split second to make decisions, hoping that each decision they make is the right one.