how'd you find the Drom compared to the Tractor? Is the Garret installation any better than the Pratt on the Drom?
The AT-802 has a lot more performance available than the M18T. The M18 is fairly forgiving, though it can be a fair amount of work in a strong crosswind, or when low level in the mountains in a stiff wind. The Dromader uses full control throws sometimes to effect a roll or a recovery, whereas the Air Tractor tends to use much smaller stick motions, and the effects of small movements to aircraft control are much more pronounced. The Stick doesn't get moved very far or very much in the Air Tractor. Not so, in the M18.
The M18 is fairly easy to land if one stays on top of the airplane. The Air Tractor, with it's spring gear, is a little more squirrely, and a lot less forgiving during landing. If the tailwheel happens to be unlocked, one may well be going for a ride in the Air Tractor. It's not too big a deal in the M18T.
I ended up in the bottom of a drainage hitting a spot fire a few years ago, in an 802. My intention was to exit down-canyon with a steep hard left turn, with my escape along a river. Given that I'd just exhausted the load on the spot fire, I elected to use my energy and climb power to see how much altitude I could pick up coming out of the canyon. In the Dromader, it would have been a down-canyon exit, but I came out of the canyon half-way down, over the top of the mountain instead of through it, nearly inverted and still pulling with extra energy. It was an eye opener; the performance was more than I expeced, and the airplane flew quite nicely all the way out.
Empty, either one is somewhat of a dog. The 802 feels like just another ag airplane when it's loaded. At higher density altitudes with a full load of mud on board, it's not exactly sprightly. Empty, it's a racecar, so far as ag airplanes go. Loaded it's still faster than the M18. Especially with the spray gear off the airplane, in fire configuration.
On the M18T, while I prefer Pratt motors, the Garret had one decided advantage during a steep downhill drop. We set up the motors and propellers via rigging to provide a significant braking force at flight idle. The effect was like coming through beta into reverse, without the loss of rudder. In level flight, retarding the power lever to idle produced a strong enough retarding force that it could throw me forward in my shoulder straps, and a brisk forward motion on the stick, into the vertical, was necessary to keep the airplane flying.
Tweaking the power lever around the sweet spot where this occurred, just above idle, proved to be a very effective tool for controlling speed during a descent. In the pratt powered airplanes, one has to be careful about how one makes a downhill run, to keep speed in check. The M18T has a fairly narrow airspeed range for drops; the BLM published safety notices regarding a 15 knot window for the drop; slower and one stalls during the drop, faster and the airplane can pitch such that full forward stick won't prevent going vertical (and a stall-spin or stall-crash, which may prove inevitable) if dropping the full load. The Garrett motor allowed easy airspeed control, and worked like a charm when doing formation descents and drops, especially when working behind dissimiliar aircraft. If behind a leadplane on a downhill drop in the pratt powered airplanes, one can't do much once at flight idle to keep behind a slower airpalne except jink slightly or pitch; that puts one outside the drop box or envelope. With the Garrett, it's an easy process.
The downside is that if things come unglued with the garret, performance can get really ugly, where the same isn't nearly so true with the Pratt powered airplanes. I can testify to that, having wound up on a hillside during a very active wildfire several years ago, during a torque loss.