Spraying with a helicopter or a fixed wing is a great way to make a living. Here, in Louisiana, it is accepted as a good way to help farmers feed the world. It is safe if done safely and the exposure to the chemicals are negligible. Use common sense. I tell my people that if they get it on them, wash it off.
http://www.webshots.com/user/cropdustern
Spraying is a way of life. If you are getting in it to build hours you are wasting time. It's just the opposite. You've got to build hours to get a job. The insurance companys want 1000 hours total time and 500 hours ag work. Kind of tuff finding that first job.
Ag flying requires you to get up early and work late. Fouteen to Eighteen hour days are the norm and forget taking off early to go out with the gang. When there is work to be done it's expected that you get the job done. It's really a farming job in an aircraft. More in common with a tractor than an aircraft. The pay is normally a lot better than most aviation jobs. Kind of like logging and other specialized work. A lot of pilots that try ag are just not cut out for it. I can usually tell when I first see a guy spraying whether he's got it or not. Unfortunately, I've never been able to tell before he begins whether it's his thing.
I've been doing ag work for 24 years and I'm still learning. Every day is a little differnt than the last. Flying in the morning is usually great. The middle of the day can be hell. We don't go by the regs on gross weight. We learn what weight we can work with and there is not a lot of excess power. Take offs from a truck or trailer are usually what we call rolling off. There simply isn't enough to come off from a hover without over torquing. A typical load takes 5-6 minutes to put out and then back to the truck for another. Loading takes 30-45 seconds and it's time to go. Carry enough fuel for 5 or 6loads so you can carry more product. Sorry to hear you guys in the UK can no longer spray. Each year it gets a little harder here in the US. Guess it'll take a food shortage before the extremist wake up. You can bet if food gets short in Europe and folks start going hungry because some insect is destroying all the crops, the public is going to want know the name of the **** that outlawed spraying.
barryb