The Danger Zone

[kevinc2011]

today i was on my whay home and a cropduster almost killed me

[3manue1]

R.I.P. Ron Erickson

[donnaleejonz]

MEGA cool! : )

[ushouldntjudgeme]

good video/good music

[navamerican]

This guy died? Doing aerobatics in a Bellanca? True?

[zzot2]

Yes he was killed in May...not sure what he was doing, heard he was buzzing a farm and hit trees. Had another guy with him, both died. Flying a Cintabria.

[glamterra]

yeh they rekon they topgun.... why degrade yourself

[tmanc208]

nice video poo finger

[pospa65]

Airtractor? Cmelak z37 or Agroturbo z 137 is good plane!!! Good plane in Czech Republic!

[statist0815]

ha! chemtrails exist :-)

[bamsawa]

what hapened to thr giy?

[sirhc141]

I saw one of them guys doing that stuff when i was in the US, amazing bit of flying, Sound like Ron is a well missed guy. RIP

[mitchbarker]

sweet video

[murph2009]

Ron was a great guy I am very happy I had the privilege of knowing him.

Rest in Peace Ron and Bob

[Dixieduster]

Great Video from MS Delta

[valley7777]

Ron was a great friend and a great person with a big smile and loved to fly.

He is now with the best wing man you could possibly ask for and no ,he did not die in his crop duster,it was his 66 Champion hobby plane.

Curt

Maddock ND

[incamps1]

Another great tribute to Ron. Look at his smile and this will tell you TONS about why everyone loved him so.

[shellsol33]

Thanks for posting this video! It was great to see Ron doing what he loved!! May he rest in peace!!

[storchnuts]

girly flying

[matttuck5]

No. there is no such thing as girly flying

[AryesBullThrush]

A Bull would fly circles around you diesel suckers haha.watch the vid I posted.

[Tony95E]

wats he doing at the end winding up the rubber band lol.....nice vid dude

[whb1965]

AIR TRACTOR RULES..NUFF SAID..LOL

[Xbox360Ljiljan95]

yeaster day i was in wisconson with my dad he is a trucker and we saw one of these and the guy like was so close to heating a moter cycle we were on the high way

[lightfoot500]

you guys heard anything about the Honey bee colony collapse. apparently about 1/3 of the bee population is mia. they leave the hive in the morning and dont comeback. here and also in europe. not sure whether it is a new pesticide or what?

[Aviatrixduster]

Bees normally go to their hive to die. The hive won't let them in because they are contaminated so they die outside or on top of the hive boxes. It's usually quite obvious when they have been killed by spraying. At least that's how the leafcutter bees around here die. Once I flew over a hive when they were swarming and killed about 300 of them in one go. woopsie. that was expensive.

[whb1965]

GREAT VID..THANKS

[GeneralSirDouglasMcA]

Great ag-plane, but the whole Top Gun/ Navy theme doesn't mix well with it.

But that Ayres Turbo-Thrush. It's supposed to be the best spray-plane around.

[flyklh]

Video was great but too bad they ruined such a great trush by sticking a Gernade I mean Garret on the front of it. Not meant for ag-planes. Real ag-pilots fly PT-6's. Heck put a R-1340 on it before a Garret.

Duster Doctor Jr.

OH ya if you need to purchase one of those new fast start kits for that Garret just contact Crowley Ride Aviation for all your ag plane needs just ask for The Duster Doctor.

[lti12]

dont you smell the chemicals when you fly the plane? I walked by a crop duster plane one and it smelled like chemicals wrilly bad

[RedundantAssassin]

It all depends on the chemicals used, and if the person takes good care of his plane...I've been spraying fields now only for a year...sometimes you can smell it and other times you can't. When I'm up in the air I can't smell it at all.

[lti12]

ya, I wanted to go for that type of job before, are there a lot of crop duster positions? how do they pay? what if you can buy your own plane?

[tedthughes]

Many variables concerning the pay. You are usually paid a percentage.

Farmers usually furnish the chemical so your pay is based on the acres flown.

This rate varies across the US. The south is usually lower, 3.25 to 5.00 per acre.

The Northern states, 5.00 to 7.00 per acre.

Your pay will be 25 to 30% of this.

Also the application rate is different. Usually pesticides will be 1 to 3 gal. per. acre. Herbicides, min. of 5 gal. per acre.

Bad News - Its a great occupation

[lti12]

but if I have my own plane, will my pay be 100% of

$5 to $7 per acre in Northern states?

[tedthughes]

Yes it would be. But remember all operating cost come out of that . Your insurance is tremendous and remember, you cannot break down and miss a day. Your customers are only loyal to a operator who has back up equipment. Bugs and Weed will not wait for you.

[jetfueljp4]

nice garrett thrush

[skaybeillinson]

everything is measure by the size of your drop!. jaja

Maria

[zebra61]

I'm impressed, that Thrush lays the product down pretty nice really. Most of the spray pilots I know stay closer to the deck. Gotta watch for drift when you fly that high. Nice job!

[agcatdriver]

Larger orifice size on the nozzles and a lower boom pressure give you larger droplets, and allow a higher application hieght without drift. The optimum spray height is actually 1/2 the aircraft wingspan. I know guys that fly lower, I have myself, but it's not necessary on a properly set up and calibrated aircraft.

[jghent]

When a large droplet is released from an aircraft flying at 130-140 mph, it shatters, creating lots of little driftable droplets. Flying higher increases the amount of drift off target. For agricultural applications, Keeping the outer atomizer within the elliptical loading area of the wing, <75% of the wing span and flying low, is best for keeping spray out of the aircraft's vortex and thereby reducing drift out of the treatment area.