Hey
Got some pics but don't have a clue how to put them up. None are
digital. Have pics from around the world doing ag work with pyramids,
camels, baboons etc in the pics.
I now work for a large ag company with 15 ag helicopters. Any company
that operates more than 5 is considered big in the industry. At present
I am flying a TomCat MKIX which began life as an Army OH13 (MASH) and
everything that wasn't needed for ag work was taken off. It resembles a
baby Cobra now with tanks on the sides and spray booms.
I have a nurse rig truck with 3 750 gallon tanks for water and mixing
chemicals. It carries 300 gals avgas plus chemicals. My loader is a
local guy and usually at the LZ by about 0500. We take on chemicals,
water, avgas, the night before and ready to go at first light. I don't
know what fields I'll spray typically until about 2100. I seldom get to
sleep before 2200 and up at 0400. This goes from early June to
mid-Sept. I may fly 12 hours and on other days none (weather grounded).
we have a schedule for the potatoes and spray each field on five days
intervals.
The only time I get a break is when the truck goes to get water or
chemical. I make a sandwich to carry along and eat when my stomach
growls, usually about 1000. I refuel each hour while on the truck,
clean chemical off the windscreen, take a deep breath and hit it again.
Typical load lasts about :06 and I'll normally land on the truck 10x
per hour.
Normally ag pilots get paid by the acre sprayed on a percentage basis.
I've found over the years it works out to about $100 per flight hour
and I'll end up the season with about 50K and the rest of the year off
to do whatever I want.
Its a tough demanding kind of flying and of course with the attendent
dangers. I've had one accident when I ran out of fuel in a Pawnee back
in '68 and did $3K damage to the aircraft. I've had at least 5 engine
failures with helicopter and all were at less than 100'agl. All were
taken care of with successful autos into different areas and no further
damage to the machines.
Gotta run as the FBO is closing and I need to get out of their office.
How about this to whet your appetite...100 low level passes each hour
at about 6'agl, 200 pull-ups and turnarounds with each one being a
precision maneuver to return to the field at same airspeed/altitude and
within a foot of desired line for the spray run? We move over 50' each
pass for proper spray coverage. The turnaround time from spray
off/spray on is :06 seconds.......
Really gotta run....
More tomorrow
Rocky