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A note about helicopter crop dusting that surprised me as an Iowa resident. Around here almost all crop dusting is done by plane. I've seen one helicopter in

A note about helicopter crop dusting that surprised me as an Iowa resident. Around here almost all crop dusting is done by plane. I've seen one helicopter in the last ~10 years. The helicopter had an accompanying tank truck on a gravel road. The helicopter would land on top, refuel or refill the spray, then continue operating! I was very surprised to see it operating like this. An airplane would have needed to fly 12 miles each way to the nearest airport. Quick look online says they commonly fly at ~180 mph, meaning ~8 minutes wasted round trip. I'm guessing the distance from the airport wasn't the major motivation behind the helicopter, but rather nearby power lines.

ponker 6y ago
The biggest advantage of helicopter crop dusting when fixed-wing is an option is that the helicopter dusting gets more "into" the plants because the helicopter rotor actively blows the shit downwards.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I would assume you have slightly better control over application as well.
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  Also useful for cherry crops: a rain at just the wrong time can ruin an entire crop. There’s basically fleets of helicopters on standby around crop areas that are just there to fly above cherry trees and blow off the moisture if it rains late in the season at night.
  - chris_st 6y ago
    Had a friend who worked for the US government, in one of their farmer support areas. Told me that it's not unusual for them to be used to keep crops from freezing, oddly enough.
gambiting 6y ago
So there was an....interesting, to say the least, situation in Poland just few weeks ago and that reason why it made the news - a small helicopter has landed at a local fuel station, the owner got out, pulled it to the pump by hand, refueled, and flew away. Apparently, according to the police, no law was actually broken in doing so - as long as the landing area was free and it was an emergency(the pilot was about to run out of fuel), it was all fine. According to the article that kind of helicopter is used for "herding cattle"(no idea why it would be needed in Poland though, our farms are never so large that you'd need a helicopter, but clearly I'm wrong). https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/okolice/warszawa-helikopter-wyladowal-na-stacji-paliw-w-garwolinie-4590140 https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/okolice/warszawa-helikopter-wyl...
ezconnect 6y ago
In Japan they use remote controlled helicopter for crop dusting.

ponker 6y ago

The biggest advantage of helicopter crop dusting when fixed-wing is an option is that the helicopter dusting gets more "into" the plants because the helicopter rotor actively blows the shit downwards.

saagarjha 6y ago
I would assume you have slightly better control over application as well.
Scoundreller 6y ago
Also useful for cherry crops: a rain at just the wrong time can ruin an entire crop. There’s basically fleets of helicopters on standby around crop areas that are just there to fly above cherry trees and blow off the moisture if it rains late in the season at night.
- chris_st 6y ago
  Had a friend who worked for the US government, in one of their farmer support areas. Told me that it's not unusual for them to be used to keep crops from freezing, oddly enough.

gambiting 6y ago

So there was an....interesting, to say the least, situation in Poland just few weeks ago and that reason why it made the news - a small helicopter has landed at a local fuel station, the owner got out, pulled it to the pump by hand, refueled, and flew away. Apparently, according to the police, no law was actually broken in doing so - as long as the landing area was free and it was an emergency(the pilot was about to run out of fuel), it was all fine. According to the article that kind of helicopter is used for "herding cattle"(no idea why it would be needed in Poland though, our farms are never so large that you'd need a helicopter, but clearly I'm wrong). https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/okolice/warszawa-helikopter-wyladowal-na-stacji-paliw-w-garwolinie-4590140 https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/okolice/warszawa-helikopter-wyl...

ezconnect 6y ago

In Japan they use remote controlled helicopter for crop dusting.