I had a brief free airshow thrill! Most of the crop dusters in recent years are turboprop powered, but a Pratt and Whitney radial was pulling this Ag Cat biplane yesterday. You gotta love the sound of these great engines.
I remember seeing a cropduster when I was in elementary school in Kommiecticut. I was on the school bus coming home in the afternoon, and he was working a large field bordered by trees and had high tension power lines running parallel to the flight path. The area was a large farm that was many fields covering several square miles growing broadleaf tobacco. Those fields now are growing houses.
Those are neat to watch. When I was in college I had a job were I would go to a customers field and get on the radio. When the pilot approached I popped a smoke grenade to confirm he sprayed the right field. The job was short lived as he stalled on an upturn and landed in a pecan tree.
I am surrounded by crop fields. The small airport is a mile yonder. Dusters fly low over the house on their runs. I love it.
I knew a pilot who, in 40k hours as a duster, had balled up 7 airframes. My past A&P had an accident. He'd just taken off with a full load when the engine quit. Out of altitude and airspeed, he was going to land straight ahead on a dike. Except a professor from the university was leading a class on a study. They stood right where he was going to put down. Sidestep left, into shallow water, flipped over, the entire tank flooded over him. Bad chemical burns but mostly healed by the time I met him.
Events like that keep me out of the business. Still, I'm inclined to give it a go. Except this isn't something a guy does for a couple of seasons. And I ain't no spring chicken no more. I'd sure like to get back to working pilot status. Something exciting.
I remember seeing a cropduster when I was in elementary school in Kommiecticut. I was on the school bus coming home in the afternoon, and he was working a large field bordered by trees and had high tension power lines running parallel to the flight path. The area was a large farm that was many fields covering several square miles growing broadleaf tobacco. Those fields now are growing houses.
ReplyDeleteThose are neat to watch. When I was in college I had a job were I would go to a customers field and get on the radio. When the pilot approached I popped a smoke grenade to confirm he sprayed the right field. The job was short lived as he stalled on an upturn and landed in a pecan tree.
ReplyDeleteI am surrounded by crop fields. The small airport is a mile yonder. Dusters fly low over the house on their runs. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI knew a pilot who, in 40k hours as a duster, had balled up 7 airframes. My past A&P had an accident. He'd just taken off with a full load when the engine quit. Out of altitude and airspeed, he was going to land straight ahead on a dike. Except a professor from the university was leading a class on a study. They stood right where he was going to put down. Sidestep left, into shallow water, flipped over, the entire tank flooded over him. Bad chemical burns but mostly healed by the time I met him.
Events like that keep me out of the business. Still, I'm inclined to give it a go. Except this isn't something a guy does for a couple of seasons. And I ain't no spring chicken no more. I'd sure like to get back to working pilot status. Something exciting.