2024-2025 PAASS - Montana AMAA

Mike Rivenbark is the owner and operator of Moore’s Aerial Applicators in Clinton, NC, flying a 402-B. Most of the fields he treats in NC are fruits and vegetables, row crops and a growing organic market.
 
Rivenbark got his first season with Moore’s Aerial in 2010. In 2011 a seat opened up in Henderson, NE with Rick Boardman and he took the opportunity to fly in the mid-west. Towards the end of 2016, Mr. Henry Moore reached out to Mike and was ready to sell his North Carolina business and retire. Mike purchased Moore’s Aerial Applicators at the beginning of 2017 and returned to North Carolina full time.
 
During Mike’s flying career he has been involved in the North Carolina Ag Aviation Association and the National Ag Aviation Association. He has served as the Executive Director of the NCAAA from 2011-2019 and as a state representative to the NAAA Board of Directors from 2015 thru 2019. Rivenbark went through NAAA’s Leadership Training Program in 2013-14.
 
Mike resides in Morehead City, NC in the off season with his wife, Tiffany, and daughter Anna Keith.

Born and raised in southwest Missouri, Sam was next to the youngest of six kids - four brothers and a sister.  He joined the Air Force after graduating high school 1976.  While serving four years as an avionics components specialist, Sam enjoyed being stationed in Colorado, Idaho and Germany and working on F-111 Aardvark and F-15 Eagle fighter jets.  Sam earned his private pilot license at U76 during his stint at Mt. Home AFB. 

In 1981, Sam graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri.  He is a licensed professional engineer and maintains a consulting business providing primarily residential and commercial site development engineering services.

Sam’s desire to fly and escape the big city life pushed him to pursue an agricultural aviation career in 1992.  Attending Ag Flight provided some basic agricultural pilot training, at least enough to get insurance for the first season of flying for an “optimistic” operator.  The following flying season Styron, with his vast experience of 300 hours ag flying, became an operator in a farming area just south of Kansas City.

Sam operates as 1Lowflyer, Inc. using an AT602, AT402 and Cessna AGtruck to treat wheat, corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and pasture, as well as, spreading fertilizer and cover crops in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.  Sam has become the “optimistic” operator and is breaking in a new pilot to help treat the increasing number of customer acres.

Sam and Pattie, his wife of 30-some years, have three grown children.