Farmer Lands to Help a Woman Stranded in Storm. The Next Morning, an F-16 Intercepts His Crop Duster
Ray Harmon had been flying over the plains of Nebraska for nearly twenty-five years,
his weathered crop duster a familiar sight against the vast Midwestern sky.
To the local farmers, he was just Ray—reliable, straightforward, mind his own business Ray.
But that all changed the moment he decided to land his plane during that summer storm.

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The morning sun glinted off the wings of Ray's old Ag-Cat biplane
as he guided it over the endless rows of corn,
the familiar rhythm of the engine like a heartbeat beneath him.
At fifty-three, Ray had spent more time in the air than many commercial pilots,
though his runways were dirt strips and his passengers were usually bags of fertilizer.

There was something almost meditative about flying the dusty fields of Cedar County,
watching the geometric patterns of farmland unfold beneath him like a patchwork quilt.
Up here, everything made sense—just Ray, his plane, and the endless sky.
The worries that plagued him on the ground seemed to dissolve at three thousand feet.

After returning from the service, Ray had taken over his father's struggling crop dusting business.
It wasn't glamorous work, but it kept him connected to the sky he loved.
He'd expanded slowly over the years, building a reputation for reliability
that had farmers calling from three counties over.