I know this is only my second post but i hope the pictures below work.

I have been fortunate enough to know Mike Horrell for the past seven years, and he took me through my PPL, CPL and FI ratings.
I have been lucky enough to work along side Mike while crop spraying, I started off learning about the ground equipment and ground crewed for three years prior to spraying myself.
During the months of July and August each year we go off around the UK spraying bracken. We usually use three R22's, one is based in the Highlands and Islands, one in the Borders and the third in Engalnd and Wales. Along the way I have been lucky enough to fly with some really experienced pilots, just to name a few: Noel Boyd (featured in The Last Great Adventure), Colin Bint (RIP) a true gent and Andy Brown from around Nelson.
The spraying aspect of the job is really quite tricky, very few of the areas that we spray are marked out using flags, therefore we use line features on the ground. Each job is different and I constantly learn each time I go out.
In N.Z. Dynamic GPS is used to plot out the spraying area and you can add in your swath width. This then produces a grid which you can follow on the screen (correct me if this is wrong as I have not seen this system before). When the job is finished you can get a print out of the area which has been sprayed and you can hand this to the client.
The draw back to this type of spraying is that you can not see where you have or have not been. The chemical which we use kills the bracken the following year and if you accidently miss an area you can end up with stripes - not good!! Bracken is really the only crop which we are allowed to spray in the UK however we have been out in Oman spraying date palms using insecticide.

Hope this gives a small insight into spraying - here are some pics

Me taking off
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/IMG_0566.jpg

Me landing
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/IMG_0565.jpg

And the equipment (notice the spray booms are just inside the disc area to reduce vortices)

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/IMG_0567.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/IMG_0570.jpg





Links fixed.
Heliport

static, just curious, how much can you work with in the R22? I've read somewhere that the tank holds 40 gallons. How are you flagging the fields? Is someone walking with a flag are are you free handing (guessing) where to make your next pass. We use Satlocs in the fixed wings and AgNavs in the helicopter. Can't imagine going back to the old ways.

barryb

Barryb,

You're pretty limited on what volume you can carry - usually around the 100ltr mark, but you are correct about the 40 gal capacity. Flagging - what I was meaning was that the spray area is marked out for you, no men walking with flags, i dont think health and safety would like that too much!!! But yes we are free handing, the good old MK1 eyeball. But things are looking up, i'm pretty sure we'll be using GPS soon.
Do you find the AgNavs reliable? Is it similar to what i was saying about the printouts? We do most of out spraying on hillsides where there is no access with vehicles, does this system compensate for reduced swath widths on angled slopes?

Cheers Static

Static, I don't care for the AgNav personally. I cut my teeth on the SatLoc and kind of favor it. The AgNav is reliable but not as user friendly in my opinion. As far as your swath width, it's up to you to tell it what you want it to do. There may be some special programs that will adjust but I've never heard of them. SatLoc, and maybe others, have programs that allow you to fly contours or around a hill but I've never used it. Hope you get your GPS soon. You'll think you died and went to heaven.

barryb

I love it that the old R22 which has come into so much stick and here it is performing a fantastic job crop spraying.Soon someone will use it for SAR.

Thanks for the pictures. I would love to do that on my days off.

Crop Spraying
 

G'Day Static,

I use the Trimble AgGPS EZ Guide Plus. It consists of a lightbar and a screen that shows your runs. I have a iPAQ handheld computer next to it and my spray runs are shown as thick blue lines on it. All you need to do is fly the boundaries of the paddock, then fill them in. After flying the boundary it tells you the size of the paddock, so you know how much chemical and water to use. This is a good feature as I have rarely spoken to a farmer who didn't tell you his paddock was at smaller than it really is.

The unit is primarily designed for tractors but is great for use in a helicopter, especially an R22 where weight is such an issue. I reckon my whole system (antenna, lightbar and iPAQ) weigh a total of about 2.5 kgs and is powered from a cigarette lighter plug, so no expensive EO's. I did try a SATLOC but I could barely lift the light-bar so I sent it back.

And the price? About 5 grand Australian.

Watch out for wires and happy spraying.


Shorthorn

Did somebody say R22 in SAR mode?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../R22rescue.jpg

Where's the winch and nitesun???

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22rescue-1.jpg

Winch is belly mounted for C of G restrictions!

I fear I know where this is going and Capt Hollywood will know what I mean!

Am on pprune now.
 

Am rgistered on pprune now. Kindly respond on my mail now. I am 65 yrs now & have an Indian CPL endorsed with Dauphin 365N, AS365N2, As355N.Alouette111,Lama.Bell47G3, Bell47G5, Agusta109C. I woild appreciate details regarding any setup tht is not particular about age limit. Am fit Class1 & have 7500 hrs on helicopters.

What a coincidence! - What looked like an R22 with a spraying rig flew low over my house earlier!

Barnsley, S Yorks, around 19.00 flying due east - I'm new to this but I'm guessing less than 1000ft

due to all this rain recently - crop spraying seems to be doing very well once again spraying potatoes when normal sprayers cant reach due to the water/mud.

The articles say that only 3 chemicles are now allowed to be aerial sprayed. One of which is bracken which seems to be the only thing keeping the industry going in the uk.

The quoted price for a jet ranger is now £30 and acre!!! A bit different from the £9 it used to be!

MADY

Still plenty of it to boot in Aus, hopefully the rains will help NSW out a bit.

UK crop spraying operators in the 70s & 80s
 

Look at this list of CAA documents held by a part of the National Archives...I stumbled on it looking for "Dollar Air Services".

Looks like all the well-known UK ag operators of the time, rotary and fixed.

Amazing days :ok:

The National Archives | Access to Archives

Wonder what nasties are in the CAA file called "Chemicals policy" :eek:

Ag Ops
 

G'day ag fellahs,

Just seen the revitalised post on ag flying and now in semi retirement, I'm able to spend more time with pprune so first to apologise to G-Mady for not replying to his request in 2007!!! but I can say I haven't personally seen a Kaman any model on Ag work, but its ten to one there's someone in the world using it. But yes Mady, I usually achieved the 100 acres an hour with a decent sized field.

The Kamov 26 was in wide use in Ruskie land and when I vacationed there a few years back I managed to scrounge a ride in one on a spraying op near Kalinagrad. It wasn't the yellow chemical that got you ... just the noise of a couple of close radials!

I often wonder why the ULV/CDA system didn't make it into general Ag service ...about a pint to an acre I seem to recall ad ideal for the Robinson 22

I have a couple of videos of the Enstrom 28C on wet and dry spreading work and also on bracken up in Scotland. T'was an early morning, high humidity sortie and the piccy I have shows a pair of tip vortices trailing the Enstrom ten yards behind each 360 degree ring about 40 feet across. If anyone can explain how I get the video off my video tape nd on to pprune, let me know.

Good wshes to all past and current ag pilots.

Dennis Kenyon.

PS And if those two whizz kid New Zealand ag men ... Derek Alexander and Dave Cook are still out there, give me a hi!

Ag flying still flat out in NZ . We use 22's and 44's for spraying and spreading fert.

I just spent some time shooting Anderson Helo's AS350B2 topdressing out side of Hokitika and stopped in at the Hawkes Bay to see Jimmy Guerins guys sitting out the bad weather :ok:

In Kiwiland we have a large mix of helos working on ag from 22s, 44s, 500s, AS350s, Lamas, and even an old S55.

Europe is now seeing a lot of western machines there working with a 480B now working in Bulgaria.

Ned

I've been shot at a few times myself. But, I've never had anyone admit it in writing.:hmm:
barryb

Barryb - would be happy to come over there and shoot you - with the camera that is :E:E

Lloyd Vandermeer
 

Hi Dennis
I was with spooner a very short time with Dave Cook from NZ I'm Lloyd Vandermeer also from NZ . I was taken on to look after the spray gear etc, When I got back to NZ became a Helicopter pilot myself had my own company, Flew in Australia, now in CAnada living here, flew here for a while, I was at Spooner in 1978 so I'm getting on as well. Just finished with Pacific helis in PNG theres an experience I can forget .
Take care