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The History Of Helicopter Crop Spraying:
Crop Spraying 1921
The first known use of a heavier-than-air machine occurred on August 3/1921. Crop Spraying was developed under the joint efforts of the U.S. Agriculture Department, and the U.S. Army Signal Corps's research station at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. Under the direction of McCook engineer Etienne Dormoy, a United States Army Air ServiceCurtiss JN4 Jenny piloted by John A. Macready was modified at McCook Field to spread lead arsenate to kill catalpa sphinxcaterpillars at a Catalapa farm near Troy, Ohio in the United States. The first test was considered highly successful. The first commercial operations were begun in 1924, by Huff-Daland Crop Spraying, which was co-founded by McCook Field test pilot Lt. Harold R. Harris. Use of insecticide and fungicide for crop dusting slowly spread in the Americas and to a lesser extent other nations in the 1930s and 1940s.
Agricultural Aircraft Designs:
In the case of helicopters, tanks are mounted on the belly of the helicopter. Spray booms extend outward to the sides and are attached well below the main rotor blades and in front of the rotor down wash in clean air. This allows the product to be dispersed evenly with the proper droplet size and spray pattern.
Techniques:
To reduce drift of the sprayed materials, agricultural pilots attempt to fly as low as possible while crop dusting, usually just above the crops being treated (4.5 meters/15 feet), depending on the application . They finish their spraying run with a sharp turn into the wind which allows them to line up for their next pass. During aerial spraying runs, pilots are constantly monitoring their GPS, as well as the flow and application rate. Fields are often surrounded by obstacles such as trees, telephone lines, and farm buildings, so pilots have to switch quickly from the task of accurately crop spraying to the task of dodging obstacles. It is not unusual for spray pilots to fly under telephone and power lines at the end of their runs if height allows.
Our Fleet
Two Robinson r44's.
Robinson R-44 with Apollo DTM 4 crop spraying system
