Crop Dusting #1
by J McCombie
Title
Crop Dusting #1
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "Whats New".
Today crop dusting is known as aerial application in the agricultural industry, and it’s one of the keys to modern productivity. “Ag” pilots flying a range of turbine and piston aircraft and helicopters skim 10 to 15 feet above fields. They swoop and pirouette to fly precise parallel lines over crops spraying protection chemicals, fertilizers and seed in one of the most demanding and potentially dangerous forms of aviation.
Aerial application, or what is informally referred to as crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific spreading of fertilizer is also known as aerial topdressing in some countries. Many countries have severely limited aerial application of pesticides and other products because of environmental and public health hazards like spray drift; most notably, the European Union banned it outright with a few highly restricted exceptions in 2009, effectively ending the practice in all member states.
Agricultural aircraft are highly specialized, purpose-built aircraft. Today's agricultural aircraft are often powered by turbine engines of up to 1,500 shp (1,100 kW) and can carry as much as 800 US gallons (3,000 l) of crop protection product. Helicopters are sometimes used, and some aircraft serve double duty as water bombers in areas prone to wildfires. (These aircraft are referred to as SEAT, "single engine air tankers").
Uploaded
August 20th, 2021
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