Crop dusting

[Pullstart 62,792]

Crop dusting amazes me, how they are so quick to act between power and tree lines.  No, not the walking farts in Walmart style either!  @Lane Ranger I know you have an amusement for aircraft, maybe someone else will enjoy this too.  I was organizing in the back barn and heard this noise.  I figured he was close, but didn’t know he was buzzing the house!  We had a family friend in my early teenage years die in a crop duster accident, his brother taught my brother and I how to fly in SC on spring break when I was 14 or 15.  I’m pretty sure I could watch these planes all day long!  The only thing better would be a ride in one 

 

 

[WHNJ701 4,165]

watch on you tube there are in cockpit videos, there's alot going on with the laptop, dropping seed or fertilizer, and then flying the plane a few feet off the ground.  

they do alot of reseeding for erosion control with the planes out here.

[JAinVA 4,619]

You must have been amused for quite a while judged by the number of photos you got.When I worked at NASA-LRC every spring we got a chance to see the Thunderbirds give their aerial demonstration so that the TAC officer could sign off with his approval.We would get on the shop roof and watch.Those guys were so close that you could see their faces if they didn't have helmets on.Thanks for sharing.

Edited August 2, 2019 by JAinVA

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

They are fun to watch! Ill bet they have 

strick guide lines after 911. Have a friend in St. Louis that flyed banners sports games as well as other events. Took away 

a good chunk of his income after 

911

Edited August 2, 2019 by The Tool Crib

[Pullstart 62,792]

14 minutes ago, JAinVA said:

You must have been amused for quite a while judged by the number of photos you got.When I worked at NASA-LRC every spring we got a chance to see the Thunderbirds give their aerial demonstration so that the TAC officer could sign off with his approval.We would get on the shop roof and watch.Those guys were so close that you could see their faces if they didn't have helmets on.Thanks for sharing.

 

That’s not half of the pictures I took 

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,175]

That looks like a really cool and fun thing to watch!!     reminds me of what happens every spring at my house ...a helecopter is used for spraying/dropping something for misquito control.    the pilot always takes the same approximate path and always does a 180 degree turn right over the back yard of our house....and if we can hear him ahead of time , the kids will run out on our deck and wave to him....and he always waves back!    pretty fun! 

[ACman 7,618]

Kevin as with most guys my mind went right to ....  !

  As a kid I got to see a lot of crop dusting on the farm and it never got old. He used a old Bell 47 helicopter like on the show M.A.S.H. Amazing how fast they can pull up and do a 180° turn missing the trees at the end of the field. I was also lucky enough to have a stunt pilot live nearby and he would practice over the neighbors very large muck/vegetable farm . Many of afternoons watching him climb until it stalled and tumble back to earth, regaining control and pulling out before he’d crash. Oh those were the days.

Edited August 2, 2019 by ACman

[oliver2-44 9,687]

I grew up around airplanes.  My dad was sort of a jack of all trades guy. He was a licensed A&E mechanic with a powerplant (engine, canvas and sheet metal certificate. He also was a licensed flight instructor, as wells as a rancher, electronics repair,  old farm house carpentry and electrical, you name it to make a living in a small town.  In about 1950 my day laid out 2 grass runways on the 360 acre farm and operated a small fixed base airport service. In about 1965 the city leased the longer 4800 ft runway and paved it. In 1990 the city moved the airport to a new city owned location.  From time to time we would find black tire marks on the runway where teenagers had used it as a 1/4 mile drag strip in the middle of the night. (of course my brothers and I never did that)   

    In the 1950's through early 1970's a fellow with 3-4 planes came through every year spraying crops.  He had open cockpit biplanes with radial engines that had been military trainers converted to sprayers.  Each summer my dad leased him a space on the opposite side of the runway from the hanger building for him to keep his chemical tanks and equipment.  After he stopped coming, that spot stayed bare for 20+ years from the spilled cotton defoliant.  Since the pilots traveled and lived out of hotels and suitcases,, sometimes one would show up with a hangover and my Dad as the Airport Operator won't let him fly.  My Dad would fly a couple of hours and spray the fields while the pilot sobered up.  My Mom was not found of that .     I always say my Dad was the last of the old grass strip barnstormer pilots.   The bottom of the planes fuselage and wings would get eaten up from the corrosive chemical spray.   My dad would do sheet metal repairs on the planes to keep them airworthy and licensable..   I always wanting a ride in one, but they couldn't carry a passenger since the chemical tank filled where the second seat had been.  When I was a young teenage one of the planes clipped a line at the end of a field and crashed.  I helped my dad and 2 older brothers pick up the plane, put it on our farm 5th wheel trailer and haul it back to the shop.  The guy had some other parts planes and my dad put it back together to fly again. That was one of 3 crashed planes I helped pick up over the years.  Lots of airport/airplane memories.   

The biplanes were:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing-Stearman_Model_75   

[953 nut 55,077]

There was a citrus grove across the creek from our property when we lived in Florida. The crop dusters would have their wings tilted up toward the grove while spraying along the creek bank so that nothing went into the water.

One of the crop dusters was in his mid-eighty's at the time and said he started crop dusting in the late 1930s. He was a fighter pilot during WWII and laughed about the Navy trainers who were trying to teach him how to fly the military way. Said he would break off from the pack, loop around and be on the tail of the instructor before he knew what had happened. If half of what he would tell us is true (and I'm sure it was) he lived a charmed life.

[JAinVA 4,619]

One thing about crop dusting with fixed wing planes is that it is old school seat of the pants stuff.Closest thing now is an A10 pilot.True jockeys with big brass ones!

Edited August 3, 2019 by JAinVA

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,497]

Very cool. Never saw that befote.

 

Glenn