G'Dday Nigel,

Spraying when it's 110 degrees!! I'm suprised any chemical at all would reach the ground at those temperatures. I wont feel so bad now spraying when it's above 30 (C).

Ok im assuming thats some sort of illusion so:

What is the liquid comming from under the tanks? Is the spray leaking?
Looks a much more suited helicopter to the job, larger tanks, more fuel. Expect running cost of the turbine.

Lookout heliport, that picture may stur up the anti Photoshop gang again!

MADY

John Howells
 

Not sure if John is still dusting but he was working in PNG up to a couple of years ago. One of the gentlemen of this profession and it was always a pleasure to see him or fly with him.

"Take offs from a truck or trailer are usually what we call rolling off"

Is this what you meant? Presumably one of these would drive until translational lift was gained???

http://i18.tinypic.com/6btqjx5.gif

Wow! Nice truck! All we could afford was a jimmy....

http://www.electrocution.com/scan0234.jpg

phil

Yes, Mike is still going strong, Bracken control and Heather re-seeding. MFH Helicopters is who the spraying work goes through.

He is taking me through my PPL(H) based at Peterborough Conington. He also does spraying courses from time to time - I hear those are hard work but amazing to do. Some details on his website http://www.mikehorrell.com/

nigel h

god you must be as old as my dad i thought you were younger

Following a number of spray booms being damaged by being flown into the crop a memo was placed on Dollar helicopters notice board.

Do not fly at 2 feet when 3 feet (above the crop???) will do.

They were serious as well.

Thanks Lartsa :rolleyes: I was only 21 when i started instructing ....and very quickly went onto crop dusting coz i thought it was safer :ok: :ok:
One of the notices we had on a board was the times when there is high usage on the elec grid .....lunchtime...teatime etc You may be able to fit under the wires at 10 am but go back at 1pm and you wont fit under any more due to expansion :{ Also the more humid the day the further away from the big cables you want to be due to arking which can reach 10 ft or more ......

cheeky bugger ...get back in yer R22 :*

Ag Memoirs
 

Crop spraying.

Just an odd note to brighten the day ... anyone out there recall the evening at the Sutton Bridge Hotel (Norfolk) when, after the end of a great ag season, (circa 1980ish) Spoonair Ag services held a 'thanks to all' staff dinner.

Our leading ground op/flagman had an exciting lady partner to say the least, (the rumour was an ex-Windmill lady) As the wine flowed, said lady decided to warm the evening by standing on the table and removing her top. I certainly enjoyed the views, but the hotel management and dining guests weren't so impressed and invited us all to leave. Those present were the C ag P Brian Izzard, Dave Cook, Derek Alexander, Paul Manning and the spraying team whose names I can no longer recall. (God bless wherever you are now)

I do know how competitive those days were. David Dollar's outfit were the Ag industry leaders alongside Heli Scott and perhaps ourselves, who were always being undercut in the price war. Still, the impromptu insecticide season was very short and very sweet, and our Ag team just got stuck in and made figurative hay while the sun was out. And even as the team boss, I also spent the odd night in the heli so to be reading for a sunrise start. Sadly not with the said lady!

But yes ... tons of team spirit, happy working and enjoyable days as long as the Hostathions didn't get up your nose!

Fond memories and best wishes to all ex and current Ag men.

Dennis K

PS. Don't pinch any Nitram for your lawn at home. I did once and spent the next month mowing every second or third day!

I liked the photo of the spraying Lama. Did Dollar ever spray with their Lama's? I know they used an Alouette 2 G-AWFY.

THE FUTURE!

http://i16.tinypic.com/5x6l4x0.jpg

Yes they are tiny spray booms! The website showed GPS and gyro stabalizers so you just set it to work and of it goes - more accurate than a pilot!

Another reason why it might be a dyeing sport?

Hiller UH-12 spraying cotton circa 1980s
 

I posted this under the video thread awhile back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLk8-ljPcuM

Great Video!!!

See the way he gets out rotors running :eek: and stands in front of the tail rotor to reload!!!

I have seen R22 bush pilots do that. Are the frictions just strong enough to hold the controls centered? Obviously if the cyclic drifted it would be catastrophic!
And the way he lands on the mobile truck! He has clearly done that several times. Theres no hover, its just straigth in straight down!

Would love to do that one day, long way off though :rolleyes:

MADY

PS - How close was he to that wire!!!!!!!!!!!

The few crop spraying hours in Africa and france I have flown are amongst the best flying memories I ever had....Plantations and farms are nicer places to stay for an helicopter than airports. I had the feeling to be close of what was called "barnstorming" in early 30s America. Sadly enough, it's difficult to make a living of this now....

KA-26 crop spraying in...
 

...Hungary?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5zwayYY5BY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pP9VdfxgV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhbIR5v2-_c

The siren-like howl you hear are the cooling fans interacting with the shutters.

The Kamov looks like a great aircraft to fly. Anyone know how it handled with one engine (an engine failure)?

The video shows how close you get to the trees!!!

Question for the like of DennisK... Did you ever see a Kaman crop dusting? I know its designed for heavy lifting but sounds like it could have been used???

MADY

The KA-26 is said to be underpowered. Here's a wikipedia entry that gives some background on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka-26
There's a KA-226 turbine version which probably has better performance...but the KA-26 sounds more interesting! :D

found another pic (bit small though)

http://i18.tinypic.com/61nvo5u.jpg
http://i11.tinypic.com/4zxrsbp.jpg