Air Tractor - Extreme aerial application - How low can you go?
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2015
- Air Tractor 402B crop duster spraying a field of wheat. Pilot is doing this for a job everyday for the past 30 years and more. Aircraft has a turbo prop Pratt & Whitney PT6A engine. The same engine as in a Air Tractor AT-802 but just a a much lower power setting. This was this pilot's last season before retiring as a crop duster pilot at the age of 70. Aerial application is commonly used when crops can be damaged by agricultural machinery. Low flying is an everyday occurrence for an ag pilot.
- Авто та транспорт
Thanks so much for no music.
Totally agree!
@@royranapia3759 sonud 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@royranapia3759 shut music 🤣🤣🤣🤣
SAIL!!
the propellers sing
I've been crap spraying all my sweet life, but never got my hands on a turboprop.Here in México,that's like a dream, unless you mix spraying with something else, but a normal piston will have to do.Congratulations,to all the A G pilots, from Mexico to all of you.
My first job was fueling & loading AG chemicals for a 1970s Rockwell Thrush Commander w the same 600 hp radial as the T-6. Pilot was/is one of the best I’ve ever seen. At the end of the day we’d put a canvas cover over the engine and he’d have me put the prop perfectly vertical. I finally asked him what that was about and he deadpanned “I like the way it looks.” Good enough for me!
Those of you who didn't grow up in the agricultural South will just not understand! My younger brother and myself grew up chasing crop dusters all over our area. We had a flying service 1/4 mile from the house and several others within 4 miles of the house. Cotton and bean fields surrounded our property and the area in general, and crop dusters were nearby all day, every day. We would ride our bikes to where a field was being dusted, set up on the "Turn rows", .. and wave and flag the pilot, who would be more than happy to fly right over us , and douse us with whatever his cargo was!!! Crazy? ... ah, Yeah!! .. but at 12 or 13, we didn't care!!! .... We loved AIRPLANES!!! We've been pelted by fertilizer granules, and covered by some stinky yellow stuff that would hardly wash off, as well as everything in between. Guess we've been lucky so far, as this was over 40 years ago. We both now build and fly giant scale 35% size radio control model airplanes. Never had a desire to fly real planes, but rather have a love of watching the majesty of flight! :)
Fun. It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, not in the air wishing you were on the ground.
Luv that Ur similar to ma old time passion for planes
Grew up with one right across the steet on a old country town road would stand on top of farm equipment to get a closer look lol man great places to grow up forsure sometimes they would be so low I felt like I could scrape them with a shovel literally
Those are some of the most skilled pilots around.
Not necessarily. Many of these guys are VFR only.
@@mattcero1VFR only or not, their stick & rudder skills are basically one step away from aerobatic...
These look like the same sort of planes that helped us out in the Australian mega fires they flew over my house for months, fantastic pilots cheers.
I used to flag fields when I was young. I was in a new field one morning and the plane caught the power line powering a pump. The power line sounded like a guitar string before being cut. They pilot flew pretty low back then to it's normal in this kind of work. Another time he blew a cylinder off the engine and had to land in the field. We took the wings off and towed the plane home backwards using a Mitsubishi pick up. We had put two pallets in the bed and strapped the tail wheel in place. We always joked and called it the flying circus. It was always a fun family run business with good people.
Hahaaahaaaa....funny & scary too. Good narration of a scary encounter.
GFB I used to field youngs when I was a flag.
Lol
I love these stories! I'm a retired new guinea pilot.
My dad was in the Navy in the 1950's in South Texas. The crop dusters down there used to ask if there were any
tree stumps or fence posts in the fields they sprayed. They came back with dew on the tires, flying like this man.
I wish I could show this to my dad. Thanks to the pilot and everyone for showing this.
Did you serve in the Korean war?
@@sidv4615 No. My dad served, but it was a couple of years after the war.
Extraordinary up close view of something most people will never have the guts to film that up close. I loved your video! Thanks for the effort, and for sharing it. Grew up in Bakersfield and as a kid sat in the truck many times with my Grandfather and watched these studs do their thing.
Thank you. I actually never thought of it as something dangerous and the pilots was also briefed beforehand that I would be taking shots from straight in front of them and that I would be taking care to get out of the way as not to be hit by the low flying plane. Also, I'm not looking only through the view finder of the camera. The camera is about 18 inches from my face, so I have a good idea of when to duck for cover.
Lol I wouldn’t be scared to be honest
Hope you had on a mask or something while filming this. I know how it is spraying pesticide around the house. I usually end up coughing and sneezing crazily if I don't wear an N95 mask at least.
Some nice shots here. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
1
Cropduster pilots are low key some of the craziest pilots. Most of the newer ones already run turboprop engines WELL PAST their service life and they still huck them around fields inches from the ground.
Love the sound of these planes, so nostalgic. Brings me good memories of my childhood 😢
I can almost smell the spray! LOL I grew up in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Watched lots & lots of "Aerial Applicators" spray everything you can imagine and still breathing fine after over 60 years.
70 years old, this pilot has balls of steal. Not to mention mad skills.
Man... now that is the Nap on Earth, Awesome flying skill 🤙
We used to have cropdusters fly over the fields here at out farm when I was a kid...I miss it...it was always the best time when you would hear em pass over low...we would run out of the house and hurry to see them...it was always on Saturday morning.
Awesome flying and a great job dusting that field.
Living the dream, or from what I read in the description, lived the dream for 30yrs. Awesome
Used to get buzzed by these guys on Rt 72 just outside of Cedarville,OH. Usually early in the morning and occasionally I would have one adventurous soul who seemed to love to clear my Freightliner hood by as few feet as possible (loved it). Always woke me up!
Well hey there Dusty Crophopper! Never thought I'd see you again
Nice to see one of these crop dusters in action!
That's how it's supposed to be done, that is a REAL duster pilot
Complete idiot-disgrace to the industry
No he’s not. He and camera man are both showing off. They set a bad example by being careless and dangerous and is cheating the farmer by spraying his wheat that low.
Glad that this crop duster pilot doesn’t have hay fever because sneezing at this height would be catastrophic...🤣🤣🤣
Joke aside what a demonstration of steady hands and precision and the sound of the PT6A makes it perfect glad that there is no music other than the turbin, I have always loved the Pawnee this one is a “Brave” one 😊😉
Great vid !
Hes risking his life every pass. Its pretty amazing.
My neighbour on Great Barrier Island, N.Z. was one of those very rare people, a retired top-dressing pilot. He came close one time, having gone up the wrong valley, and had to dump the whole load. Was explaining to the farmer and apologising for wasting the load, and said "At least I got over the top": the farmer cleared his throat and pointed at the aircraft: it had fence wire wrapped around the undercarriage!
ouch....that was close,he lived to tell
That's the best story I ever heard, that's real right there. Imagine the look on his face not realizing he hit the fence until the farmer pointed at the undercarriage, he probably changed his shorts right after, lol.
Thanks for sharing Paul, that's pretty intense!
There's unfortunately been a few ag pilots who made that mistake and didn't get away with it in NZ, including one report where the fert bin clogged, and the pilot couldn't dump the load. Huge amount of skill involved.
This pilot must have been a bird in his past life. that mother's child got skills.
The Air Force called... they need their ground following computer back for their B1.
Rkhhsqeajhnsdhhbbsuuoedadcckkjsmx
In a massive library of you tube bs this is by far one of the best videos out good job
Bro, 7 years later and I'm still surprised watching this video, what an amazing machine, and good cameramen.
Great vid of the beautiful sights and sounds of that awesome machine. Nice flying but an unnecessary risk (I'm sure he was just showing off). Newer spray nozzles allow for best application patterns a little higher than that (between 7-10 ft). Keeps you off the fences and the crop out of your gear! We're here to protect crop, not knock off every head of wheat in 1' x 1000' strips ;)
I was thinking the same thing, then I read in the description that it was the 70 year olds last spray, so he was probably trying to impress for the camera. Showing off has killed a lot of pilots.
Wait I don't understand, how does it lift the pilots nuts
Its got a motor and some aerodynamics called lift. Can't you hear the engine?
@@JM-yx1lm @itscalledajoke
@@JM-yx1lm bro do you even have friends?
Spilly Sock-Spock 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 thanks! I'll be laughing all week with that one
Ha ha, so funny. Only been said a trillion times before, in one form or another.
It's amazing to watch him fly so low and adjust for the contours of the land! Incredible level of skill. 😮😮😮😮👍👍👏👏
i crop dust sometimes, drives my wife crazy
"In slang, crop-dusting is the act of moving while passing gas, usually silently, thereby “dusting” other people or an area with the gas."
Learning new things everyday.
As we used to say “ You Can Only Tie The Low Altitude Record”! unless you are going for the Low negative Altitude Record!
These pilots are crazy good!!
The best pilot 👨✈️ wow amazing thanks for sharing with us 👏👏👏👏
I wonder if a pilot after a long day in a long week has "crop dusted" the landing strip instead of landing?
I can say from experience that they often do it over lakes, skimming wheels off the water. There is no room for error
Crop duster pilot who was from q town near me was an A1 skyraider pilot in Vietnam. When I was a kid he'd buzz by our house for shits and giggles, he even once did a fly by on us on our ride to school in my moms old caravan. This was all back in the 90s of course. Nowadays FAA would pull his license.
@@coltoncarpenter3790 cameras ruined it for a lot of things. Even the troopers have become soft when they use to be the biggest hardarses. They use to rough you up if you talked crap before you were in safe keeping of the county jail. If anyone asked about the injuries, you tell them you fell down.
@@coltoncarpenter3790 I wonder why!, 🤩
I almost expect the plane to start strafing the field with machine guns
Lowest fly by ever... If he were any lower he would be landed. Crop dusters are historically some of greatest pilots that ever flew.
Yep, Independence Day the movie tought us that too;-)
Its dusty crocooper
Great filming.
awesomome flying from a 70 year old well done
Loved watching these planes while living in the Midwest. Incredible aircraft, military still uses them
Just to clarify a couple of points. On the 402, the best pattern is attained with the wheels 5 - 10 feet above the crop (as
flyway' says). Wheels in the crop is unnecessary. 30 years ago, we used to spray potatoes with the wheels down between the rows, before we knew better. With the larger aircraft, better coverage does not mean lower.
In Canada, some aerial firefighting companies are now using Air Tractor 802's, either on wheels, or on floats (Fireboss), not 402's (802 carries twice the load).
Strong wind does not equal a better spray job. In a strong crosswind, a graph of the droplet displacement looks more like a triangle, with the wide end at the upwind wingtip resulting in uneven displacement.
+finneganfly And that sir, is absolutely right. The pilot was just showing his low flying skills. Was his last year of ag flying, and he came from the days of flying with the wheels in the rows. You have to admit that from a pilot's point of view that you need to be skilled to hug the uneven terrain as he did with a fast Air Tractor and not a Pawnee or Ag Husky. So, sit back and enjoy.
+Manie Rossouw I have a confession to make. There is the odd time that I return from the field with a little grain in the brake calipers on the 802. I also came from those days (40 years as an AgPilot this year) with wheels in the crop and it still feels a little uncomfortable up around 10 feet. And as far as contour flying is concerned - we learned it in slower aircraft like the Super Cubs, Pawnees, AgCats, and AgTrucks.
These days I work an AT802 in very rolling terrain and it's hard work to follow those sharp contours when ground speeds are sometimes over 165 mph (but I still do it). Many times throughout the season I'll pull up out of the field and have to find my go cup, calculator, and phone because they floated out of their spots as I crested a hill.
I wasn't dissing the pilot in this video at all, I was just trying to clear up some of the inevitable misconceptions.
+finneganfly Hehehe, good on you for still enjoying ag flying after all these years. I'm a pilot but don't fly for a living, only for pleasure. I only wish I could've been an ag pilot, but at this moment I only have appreciation for the work you do and enjoy watching the skills of the ag pilots. A military fighter jock might have a hot jet and really hot guns and bombs, but I still think your jobs is much more intense. Safe flying, cheers
finneganfly depends on what spray nozzles their using
nothing to do withthe plane....all about the tips(microns) and the wind
A master at work.. great video
Would love to do this for a living! My grandpa was a 70year pilot that did this.
Admiro demais esses profissionais. Nota 10 pra todos dessa área.
Tem que ser bem valorizados uns profissionais desses!!
Great flying and camera work-- notably around 2:50
Wow
Mowing the lawn
Pilot is a professional
Awesome, thanks for video.
The World Record for low flying can only be equalled never beaten
Beautiful flying
Challenge not accepted. This guy can fly.
Aí manja pra fazer uma aplicação aérea em parabéns meu amigo show
I freaking love the air tractor thanks for filming and posting happy thanksgiving
Spraying and de-tassling in one pass.
That's how we do in South Africa! Lekker man!
That's looks like some good fun.
My CFI was an Air Tractor pilot, but that pilot was amazing.
The Air Tractor is Sweeeeet.
I like the Military's Version
Soon I'll be Flying a Air Tractor
E flites 1.5m Air Tractor with this Same Paint Scheme.
Holy shit between the flying and the camera work this is one of the best youtube vid's i've seen in awhile!
I flew the T-34 in flight school in the Navy and it also had the PT6A and we had plenty of power. I can imagine how much sportier this plane is being much lighter with the same power plant.
Wow, that is low, love that plane, good pilot for sure, steady hand. Probably had to remove grass from the wheels at the of the day:)
And its a low-wing aircraft. What incredible skill.
By far, the best job
"Mowin the grass". Decades ago I was installing tower feedline grounding kits maybe 20' up a tower over by Ritzville, WA at a place called "Marengo." The duster made several passes near the tower, and I was certainly no higher than the plane.
Cool video !!😁👍
Guys crop dusters actually have to fly that low... as a retired trucker I’ve seen many crop dusters in action.. if they fly too high the wind just blows the spray away.. gotta fly low and fast
Great pilot
Great flying
My brother had a crop spraying business in Pecos, Texas for many years. He flew a Turbine Thrush (sp) using diesel for fuel. He would always fly with a lot of positive elevator trim so that the plane would go into a climb if he had a mental lapse as he was “rolling” the mains through the crops while spraying. There are old crop dusters and there are bold crop dusters but there are very few old and bold crop dusters! The scariest flights were crop dusting at night!!! He survived many a scare only to retire due to chemical poisoning and died due to a heart attack years later!! Great video.
All the other pilot: I hate takeoff and landing.
This pilot: I takeoff and land all they day.
NOW THAT IS MAPPING THE EARTH!!
Damn you‘re an ace!
Love this video. Just like my dad.
Fantastic Video.Wow, Absolut Extrem Work ...Liked
👍 awesome video !!!!
Amazing talent! Great to watch
Thank you!
Awesome flying
I grew up with these planes as my alarm clock in the summer at 6am In northern MN... I have to say I’ve never seen anyone fly that low to the crops.... (miss the radial engine sound and the bi/wing) awesome stuff!!!!
O cara é muito bom!!
AWSOME VIDEOS OF CROP DUSTING SHOW MORE THANK YOU👍👍👍
Beautiful
This guys must be win totally all the awards...
In the early 70s my family had their crops sprayed by plane. We had a runway in a central field where they would land to refill with spray.
In the '60s, when I was flagging, my boss, flying a Pawnee, always had his wheels in the crops. One day I saw a rabbit hop and get disengaged by the small pump prop under the hopper.
Cara esse Cmt está de parabéns o homem é profissional mesmo, ho loco!!
That sound thou best sound a plane can make.
Awesome to watch...Awesome camera man. Pilot one with the plane.
Actually got down in headed out green wheat one time, Cessna agwagon, had to push stick forward to hit ground and bounce back in air and yes the prop does make mowing sounds and the windscreen turned green.
That pilot has skill
Here in Brazil, because we have several planting areas, we easily come across about 2 of them working in one area only.
I wouldn’t be surprised he’s eating a peanut butter sandwich while glancing over the comics in the morning herald.
He was actually sipping ice tea out of a whiskey bottle...everybody thought he was drinkin' real whiskey. And that's the honest truth.
Id like to know if the cameraman has developed any lung issues yet? I'm am ag pilot and we don't mind people watching or taking video but we would prefer if you stay upwind (out of our way). Legally we can't even spray if there's a danger of human exposure. So next time you're watching- please keep in mind- were burning lots of expensive fuel... Please stay out of the fields.
+tommytom7777777 LOL, don't worry man. I'm still alive and kickin'. I live in a country were we don't have people that wants to sue your ass off, because he or she thought that the cancer or whatever they have was because of an Ag plane spraying to close to them. I've been standing under the passing spray boom since 1979 when I was a small kid helping as a flagger in the days before GPS. Not any cancer or any long issues as yet. In this country there's many more things that will kill you than getting killed by inhaling the spray of the plane.
Well Manie, I can appreciate that. its nice to know there are still people in this world with good perspective. Unfortunately many Americans have had life so easy for so long, they search out drama. Sue happy people looking for a quick payday. Thanks for your reply. It was refreshing to read. Take care buddy.
+Manie Rossouw Where is that ? South Africa? Reminds of the Topography near Cape Town
+blower2006 Yes, it's in the Western Cape near the town of Piketberg.
I was going to ask the same thing, did you wear a mask or any protective clothing not to get any chemicals on your skin?
I love Big RC planes, especially for watering plants.
What a pilot...He is real good...
Now that's some real air cowboy flying
I remember as a kid playing in the fields thinking its dropping rain on us.. we would go and take the marker he dropped so he could go refuel or reload the spay.. Ill never forget the smell of that stuff. That was 40 years ago.. and no, zero health issues
That smell is unique and I also love it. For me the inside of a crop duster plane have the best smell ever. I will stand on the wing and takes in deep gulps of breath from the chemical smell inside the cockpit..... Also have no health issues.
@@spitoinkr Yes sir.. definitely unique smell.. you know what it is the moment you get a scent of it
hey, can i use this video for my project please? so cool!
Thats a good job
love the sound!!!!!!