Hunter Helicopters Applying Shade Paint Lowering Greenhouse Temperatures

hunterhelicopte...
Designed to lower inside greenhouse temperatures during the warmer spring and summer growing seasons.
Ed:So I personally specialize in flying the MD500, behind us we have the Super C Model.
I’ve been flying this particular machine since 2007.
I do a lot of agricultural work, a lot of it is greenhouses where we spray a particular shade paint on top of the greenhouse to shade their crops from 20%-60% depending on clients request.
A lot of the crops here in BC, from tomatoes, flowers, cucumbers are quite sensitive crops for heat.
Ed on Radio:“We’re spraying a white wash shade paint on top of the greenhouse today. We’ve got about 30 acres to do.”
“And what exactly does this do?”
Ed on Radio:“It’s like sunscreen for tomatoes, it blocks uv rays and give them a little cooler temperature inside greenhouse.”
Jeff: Been working on the ground with my partners loading the helicopter, mixing the product, making sure the landing zone is safe every time he comes in. He’s coming in about every 2 and a half minutes so its quite hectic but quite orchestrated.
Ed on Radio: “I’ll do it on my next round, just a second.”
Jeff: We’re in constant contact with the pilot at all times, over radio. Me being a pilot myself i have my radio license. Every time he comes in to land we definitely do a, kind of a quick D.I. over the machine, make sure nothing’s come loose, make sure none of the connections are leaking, the helicopter itself is safe. So its quite a safe operation.
John: Yeah, My names John I’m one of the ground crewmen here at Hunter Helicopters. I’m the company aviation safety officer, I look after the product, the safe flights of the machine, all the flight planning and make sure the customers are happy with our job before we’re done. Came out of the fire department after 35 years. I have a chemistry background, and thats what I employ with the helicopters here is my safety, my knowledge of safety and operational procedures. The product is environmentally safe and very well tested and tried over the years in Holland in the large greenhouse industry. Its an emerging market in Canada here. The growers we work with have proven that this is a cost effective method of keeping the temperatures under control in the greenhouse structures, there by minimizing or reducing their carbon footprint.
Ed on Radio:“I’ll start here with the telephone poles as my marker. I’ll come in nice and low and start spraying. We’re about 5-6 feet off the top of the glass. 30-40 (unintelligible) is comfortable with this wind, keep it moving. Near the trees I’ll start to pull pitch. Now we’ll just pop around the top of the tree here by about 5 feet. Let her sink, and back on my next flight. “
Ed:And then at the end of the season we use a biodegradable soap, which we’ll spray on 4-5 days before a heavy rain and the rain washes the shade paint off so it’s a no hassle product for our customers.