Simviation Forum

Mar 26^th, 2007 at 1:02am

Tjw2 Offline
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I have been thinking and i think cropdusters are some of the greatest stick and rudder pilots in the world i mean you don"t see any other pilots diving in and out of feilds while dodging and sometimes going under powerlines.

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Reply #1 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 2:09am

Isak922 Offline
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True, but don't cropdusters go fairly slow? Strike pilots are sometimes required to fly below 100AGL, going 500+ Miles per hour, loaded with a few thousand pounds of high explosives. Sure, they don't go under wires, but flying that fast, that low, comes with a complete new set of challenges Grin

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Reply #2 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 4:00am

TSC. Offline
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Isak922 wrote on Mar 26^th, 2007 at 2:09am:

Sure, they don't go under wires,

During training for the dambusters raid, it became the (unauthorised) thing to do to fly under the wires of nearby electrical cables for the pilots of 617 squadron. I reckon thats pretty low, considering the size of the Lancaster Shocked

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Reply #3 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 7:35am

beaky Offline
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Dusters go as fast as they dare, because they often do several fields in one day, and time is money.
As civilian flying goes, it definitely takes good skills... and more importantly, good judgement. Reading the field before you begin, thinking ahead, is what keeps them alive... sometimes they dust at night (no, really) to take advantage of lighter winds... they often need to remember what the field looks like during the day to do this safely.

But the military has them beat... they might not go quite as low, but often hug very uneven terrain at very high speeds, using artificial vision in darkness and/or bad weather... much harder.

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Reply #4 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 7:53am

eno Offline
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The military does have the advantage of computer control and terrain following radar.

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Reply #5 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 8:38am

expat Offline
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eno wrote on Mar 26^th, 2007 at 7:53am:

The military does have the advantage of computer control and terrain following radar.

The softies Grin

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Reply #6 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 9:51am

Jayhawk Jake Ex Member

I read a very good article about Cropdusters in Air & Space a few days ago....these pilots have GUTS! In turbine dusters they go 140-150MPH at no more than 12 feet above the ground, going under powerlines and past numerous other obstacles. They land more than 10 times a day to reload and...well they are just amazing.

Back in the day of stearmans and other smaller aircraft they often had to close the roads to land and reload because the fields would be too muddy.

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Reply #7 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 10:16am

Fozzer Offline
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The life of a Crop Duster must be very short...

If he doesn't crash with fatal results, he will die of inhaling the pesticides which he is spraying over the fields... Cry

...!

But in the meantime, I really admire their skills in aviation.... Shocked

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Reply #8 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 10:30am

dcunning30 Offline
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What about Alaskan and Canadian bush pilots? They can fly hundereds of miles into the backcountry and land at a number of small lakes surrounded by mountainous terrain.

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Reply #9 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 12:16pm

Hagar Offline
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Fozzer wrote on Mar 26^th, 2007 at 10:16am:

The life of a Crop Duster must be very short...

Not necessarily. An old friend of mine, Jim Pearce, ran a very successful cropdusting company based at Shoreham for many years. He gave this up some time ago & now runs a warbird recovery company. He's now in his late 70s & still flies regularly in his Piper Cub & SA Bulldog. http://www.warbirdfinders.co.uk/about_us.htm

I haven't seen any cropdusters for a long time. It's quite possible aerial spraying is banned in the UK now.

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Reply #10 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 12:57pm

Sir Crashalot Ex Member

Tjw2 wrote on Mar 26^th, 2007 at 1:02am:

I have been thinking.........

Hmmm, I must try that too one day......

Crash Wink

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Reply #11 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 1:58pm

Tjw2 Offline
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The key words to my post was stick and rudder that means flying by the seat of your pants. My Granpa was a cropduster for about 40 years before retiring he flew a bi wing Agcat (thats was the last plane he had) crashed 3 others. He also sprayed the Peanut feild behind some presidents house in Georgia.

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Reply #12 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 6:34pm

Ravang Ex Member

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Just last week i saw so crop dusters at my local airport, and they go pretty fast, they were turbine powered but the interesting thing was that they kept it off the runway until the last second because it was faster than taxing Shocked

Heres a pic, sorry its a little dark

Shocked

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Reply #13 - Mar 26^th, 2007 at 8:42pm

PsychoDiablo Offline
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beaky wrote on Mar 26^th, 2007 at 7:35am:

Dusters go as fast as they dare, because they often do several fields in one day, and time is money.
As civilian flying goes, it definitely takes good skills... and more importantly, good judgement. Reading the field before you begin, thinking ahead, is what keeps them alive... sometimes they dust at night (no, really) to take advantage of lighter winds... they often need to remember what the field looks like during the day to do this safely.

But the military has them beat... they might not go quite as low, but often hug very uneven terrain at very high speeds, using artificial vision in darkness and/or bad weather... much harder.

everyone around here cropdusts at night, but alot of them use helicopters

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Reply #14 - Mar 27^th, 2007 at 12:10am

llamedos Offline
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This is how they spray some of the rice fields in Japan not very dangerous but pretty cool. Cool

Not a bad job except for being a bit close to the chemicals. Tongue

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