Air Tractor 802 Spraying Bug Poison on Cotton

Now I am become death, the destroyer of bugs.

[@richardh5983]

Awesome video, thank you for taking us along with you, I'm a 100% disabled vet, and you are living my dream, to nice, Thank you!

[@neilmiller1667]

One of those videos you think you'll watch for 5 minutes and you end up watching the whole thing! I found it very interesting as growing up in Nebraska AG planes were a common sight. Later when I learned to fly I was able to learn a little more about it as my instructor for my CFI was also an AG pilot. But this video I found very informative as a lot has changed technology wise since those days. Thanks for sharing, stay safe out there this summer!

[@bdr3125]

You couldn't be more right about learning from listening to the pilots, i can remember my dad and his friends talking and telling stories about the things they did and it is not only extremely interesting but also alot of information, and sometimes its actually comical,and the good pilots dont mind saying when they make a mistake, thank you for these videos, it brings back alot of good memories

[@NEhunterboy]

It’s crazy what u can learn from listening to pilots. When I first started loading the owner of the spraying company knew i wanted to become and crop duster and his 1 piece of advice was to shut up and just listen to the pilots. 😂

[@johnnyholland8765]

Make no mistake you have one cool job. So much has changed in ag aircraft with the coming of aircraft like Thrush and Air Tractor and turbine engines not to mention all the new avionics and electronics' I remember as a teenager flagging fields then came the wing mounted "flaggers" that dropped the little streamers. The cotton and peanut fields used to be full of them. I still love the sound of the old radial Pratt's but the sound of a "jet" is cool too. Cant imagine what it must feel like to push the throttle forward on a 1200 horse engine. I worked as a machinist fabricator in aerospace industry for 36 years and have made parts for everything that flies both fixed wing and helicopters both commercial and military. Even made some parts for the space shuttle program but I have NEVER FLOWN! Just retired two years ago. Maybe I'll but me a plane ticket and go somewhere one day. Stay safe Patrick and fly safe too. Enjoy your videos and mostly your explaning everything.

[@pcohen85]

Go get on a plane! Better yet, take flying lessons! Maybe don’t get on a space shuttle but definitely get up in the air somehow, some way!

[@hairtrigger903]

For his first flight, he'd better get in the plane and not on it. I was envisioning another red bull commerical. Lol ​@pcohen85

[@tennwingman3350]

A little help for the water on the windshield. I have same problem riding on my motorcycle does not want to shed the water even at 70. I use the new generations of the ceramic spray ons like NexGen. It is light years away from anything I have ever tried to use. No water sticks at all. Give it a try nothing to lose. Be safe, have fun.

[@Napoleon_dynamite]

Not allowed to put certain things on aircraft due to an a problem called glazing where micro cracks form in the glass as it deteriorates and many chemicals will advance the deterioration of the glass

[@rodneywallace2984]

Dead right.. The application is the job, the plane is the tool...A damn cool tool it is 👍

[@World-as-i-c-it]

Nice walk through!

[@funkengruven7773]

Nice vid. Well explained and very insightful. You guys earn every penny.

[@Therealpicodogg]

I live vicariously through you. Gracias amigo.

[@jimmydulin928]

Your briefing about the industry and about the flying was excellent Patrick. One tweak I might make to calm the nerves a bit of those considering Ag is about your near the edge of the envelope comment. Yes, we are always fully loaded such that POH is not accurate enough. We base this load on experience with the last load and conditions. The flying, however, is safely based on the principles in "Stick and Rudder" rather than ACS. We use Wolfgang's "law of the roller coaster" in every turn. While certainly not acrobatic, we turn steeply more safely than most airplanes turn less steeply around the airport. We have the extra free energy of low ground effect, both on takeoff and in the field. We use that kinetic energy to both go up and maneuver safely until we have about used it up and then we use the potential energy of altitude to make the steep turn at near 1 g rather than pull on the stick in the turn. That kind of safe energy management does not exist in ACS. At Billy Howell's Ag Flight I taught flying first to zero timers so that they could survive long enough to make it to the spraying. So with a thousand energy management turns a day, Patrick, you have lost the very dangerous idea that we must pull on the stick and maintain altitude in turns. Again, a really good brief. Keep the sticky side down.

[@pcohen85]

Thanks for the feedback Jimmy. That comment wasn’t necessarily talking about the turns. I am referring to the entire scope of what we do. Hauling an 8000lb load off of a 2000’ strip, flying under power lines, flying next to tree lines or power line poles with the wingtip just a few feet away, flying daylight until dark for 30 days straight, landing on tiny short strips towards the truck, landing and taking off with tailwinds, putting out fertilizer with the winds 30mph or more, ect. This job is brutal and we do things that most pilots would never consider. People considering this industry should definitely be nervous and approach this type of flying with extreme caution.

[@hairtrigger903]

A older poliot ran out of fuel spraying our fields and was like i knew i was cutting it close.. i asked what he needed for fuel. He said itd run on horse piss, so we gave him the next best thing red diesel. For once, it was literally used off-road.

[@BelowMinimums]

Happy to see another video with the cockpit audio! If you wanted to have the engine noise in there you can record the intercom to a recorder and have the camera's mic record the cabin/ engine noise and merge them in your editing software. I used a Sony ICD AX412 when I was flying and a dual female to male Y splitter

[@FL.AirBoater]

You guys are something else with balls of brass!!!

[@Samanthareneeheart10]

I've seen crop dusters down on South East Missouri spraying usully. I think cotton spraying for bowl wevels & other bugs. My dad was from that area & he always said you guys were a bit nuts doing that job. But yeah, as a pilot, there is ALOT going on. Great video.

[@kevincollins8014]

Really enjoying the videos and you do a great job explaining what's going on. Thanks for sharing the videos and stay safe brother.

[@elner934]

Right meow..... awesome insight Pat - my Dad (retired) flew everything from Snows, Airtruks, Thrushes, and all the AT models. Retired many years ago on the AT802A while firebombing in Australia

[@pcohen85]

Man I would love to fly an Airtruck someday! I have run into several Ozzie pilots over here working during their off season and they’ve all told me it is a very interesting airplane to fly. I would definitely be interested in coming over to Australia to work if the opportunity presents. If you know someone I could contact about working in Australia shoot me an email!

[@CreepyCharlie]

I just retired flying a Pilatus Air Ambulance, great job, but the hours were killing me. You have a great job!

[@FL.AirBoater]

Enjoy all your videos from central Fl.

[@BRACLLC]

Loaded C Model Frakes a couple of seasons back in the day. 80% rice. Lots of pushing urea to the front of the hopper. That 10 gallon Stam work with short ferry’s is hard work, long hours and short pay. Good memories.

[@davestelling]

Morning, Patrick - Sure glad I found your channel, fascinating stuff and you earn every cent of your pay! I couldn't subscribe fast enough. I don't think I've ever seen the inside of one of these aircraft before. I read a bit on them, and learned that there is even a militarized version. Anyhow, thanks for taking the time putting these together for the rest of us. Stay safe, young man - God be with you always...

[@timanderson9466]

Awesome video! Great flying. I might go buzz some fields in msfs. Did I mention that I really suck at flying. It would be fun if Microsoft set up a plane like yours filled with spray to see how efficiently you could cover a field without killing yourself all while keeping your customer based on the job you've done. You have a great gig!!!

[@thomaskrutulis2289]

Have the boys RainX the windscreen. All panels. Works great and only takes them a cpl minutes to apply. Lifesaver when you’re caught out 😅 Wheels up bro!

[@Stameboat]

Shhhh no rain X unless they’re glass windshields. It can/will damage plastic windows. Little pledge never hurt tho

[@thomaskrutulis2289]

It’s 2024, get with the times bro “Yes, Rain-X Plastic Water Repellent can be used on Lexan. It's designed to work on a variety of plastics, including Lexan, Plexiglas, Perspex, Lucite, acrylics, and polycarbonate.” I’m a pilot and have used it and I’d never recommend something dangerous. So no matter what he’s currently got for windscreens rainx has a product. We can assume that smart people, like pilots, would figure this out.

[@kerrytodd3753]

@@thomaskrutulis2289smart pilots don’t “assume” anything……

[@johns8771]

I worked on a neonatal transport team based at the Univ of MS in Jackson. We flew up into the MS delta quite often to bring premature infants back to the ICU. Since it was a life flight operation we always used a twin with 2 pilots. The only time I ever really saw them get nervous was when we were flying into airports with high crop duster activity in the area.

[@pcohen85]

I can understand why they would be nervous. Everyone I fly with around here except two planes have radios and we all use them. However I have been in area where nobody uses a radio and it is stressful for us as well.

[@19Dad84bod]

When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time out at my grand parents farm. The field next to them was always getting sprayed. I used to run over to the fence and watch while the pilot did his thing Sooo damn cool.

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

The water sticks to the windshield because the boundary layer is moving very slowly. The big droplets run off quickly because they stick further out from that boundary layer, which is why the smaller droplets move real slow and sometimes don't move at all...that first mm of boundary layer is hardly moving at all, so if you get a small enough particle to stay within that slow moving air, it won't blow off regardless of how fast you're going. Dust on a ceiling fan is a good example of this. The wiper that Air Tractor uses is hot garbage, it's a universal wiper that they use on Mac trucks and metro buses with a design that goes back to the 60's (the rest of the wiper assembly comes from the same vehicles if you need replacement hardware). I threw that wiper in the trash and installed a 20" HD scrubblade on my 502 instead, it made a world of difference but even just a basic modern wiper blade is a big improvement. You have to modify the mounting point on the blade itself, which is super simple to do, and then add some stop points on the windshield frame to limit arm travel in both directions (if not, the arm will be blown off the windshield and won't have the torque to return), but it clears the entire windshield off like a dream. It'll wipe coron and fungicides completely off, roundup and malathion is no problem, it'll even get rid of most dried up bugs. Relocating the spray nozzle to where the lightbar is made a huge difference too, the propwash and slipstream has more time to accelerate the water so it kind of pressure washes the window. I had a problem with the new spray nozzle (it's just a tube) acting like a venturi that sucked water out and spattered the window every time I dove into the field, so I drilled a small hole at the base of the nozzle facing forward and that fixed it. Seeing as how much more effective the entire system was, I ended up using it a lot more and ran out of water frequently. To fix that, I tapped into my rinse out tank and got rid of the tiny little tank under the seat used for the windshield washer. Had plenty of capacity at that point, and I add a little capful of concentrated washer fluid in there every time I fill it up, so it's more effective than straight water. Bonus is that the rinse out water cleans the hopper even better now, and sometimes I'll use it to momentarily spray down the hopper window part of the way through a job if it's nasty to see through it again. If you have some down time, go out and buy a 20" wiper blade with a steel frame (the ones with aero spoilers for more downforce don't work in our application) and just see how easy it is to install it, just takes a single hole drilled through, that's it. If you want more downforce on the blade, just copy the newer 710 Thrush and add yourself a little aluminum spoiler plate to the thumb screw that holds the blade on. It's a good winter project if nothing else, and you'll never go back to that worthless strip of rubber that Air Tractor slaps on everything.

[@chuckfrezzel348]

Patrick, always announce your intentions. What you are doing is expecting everyone else to announce their own.

[@pcohen85]

Not true. I have been flying around people without radios for 12 years and I don’t expect anyone to announce anything. I use my eyeballs.

[@kerrytodd3753]

Thanks for the ride-along……

[@bernardc2553]

I really enjoy your Channel

[@oldwhitecracker6342]

Now ! That's Damm impressive ! 👏

[@jaredspear8140]

Man, enjoyed the whole video! Haven’t seen anything like it. Curious what state you spray in? Your channel is gonna do great!! One suggestion, if you could ever get a helmet mounted camera for a good point of view. Clay Millican, top fuel driver in NHRA, has one mounted right at the top of his visor dead center. That would be an awesome view!

[@modernmountaineer]

Thats a cool job.Wonder how it effects the microbes in the soil?

[@galen3406]

great video

[@chrislane2030]

these video's are awesome

[@mrtrusty101]

Amazing stuff, I'm nervous watching hahahaha.

[@XxGhostR3c0nsxX]

How do you know how far to get over each pass so you won't spray the same area?? Love your channel!!

[@LSpruill44]

We call them cotton bugs, boweevills here in NC

[@redblue40rc33]

Bowl weevils have been irraticated...how ever ya spell it

[@tomrigsbee2212]

where do you fly from...used to work as a loader boy during HS (30 yrs ago)and still love to watch cropdusters

[@224valk4]

BEATS A PAWNEE!

[@matt82654]

WOW!

[@citrus.airways]

What is the registration of your aircraft? I might have seen it in North Carolina flying at 775 ft over a field

[@mattzoom8656]

21:24 🤣👏🏾

[@Codmaster-tc6tc]

“Man drops chem trails on unsuspecting cotton plants”

[@pcohen85]

I would have 1m views if I’d made that the title haha

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

​@@pcohen85 lol nah you don't want that kind of heat. I've flown a contract with my 502 over a town that made the natives quite restless. There was a lot of talk about chemtrails and shooting me out of the sky on facebork, some vids came out, then the crazies came out from all over the interwebs...

[@NEhunterboy]

Careful of priming booms over random fields even with insecticide. Could be an organic farmer lol

[@pcohen85]

That field was farmed by the same guy. Also it was cotton and organic food crop also gets sprayed with pesticides, haha.

[@charlesproctor8250]

“Right meow” You watch Saltycracker?

[@Solitarius-Lupus-Moto]

Patrick - would your skills be translatable to fire fighting out west?

[@pcohen85]

Yes I think some of them would be. I have time in type and also low level flying experience however I lack a few of the other requirements like mountain flying time. A lot of guys crossover to firefighting from agriculture and it is something I’ve thought about looking into.

[@cndream1]

On average, how many days do you fly per month and what months do you not fly in ?

[@pcohen85]

That depends on the month. I’ll give you the averages for the Mississippi Delta region. Feb 7 days, March 15 days, April 15 days, May 25 days, June 28 days, July 28 days, August 25 days, Sept 15 days, October 10 days. Sometimes we do work in the other months and sometimes not.

[@cndream1]

@@pcohen85 THANKS !!! 👍👍

[@mikesandage7494]

Are you in the bootheel Mo area?

[@pcohen85]

Not anymore. I am back in Arkansas now but close to the bootheel and we still do some work across the state lines.

[@millardhayes1884]

Ok how do you locate your target field. GPS mabe.

[@pcohen85]

@@millardhayes1884 I use what we call “shape files”. I load the fields in my GPS computer and they are on that computer screen that is in the middle of my panel. We can also use paper maps or if you’ve been flying in the same area for a long time you already know is where they are. I’ve done a little bit of everything in my career and shape files are my favorite.

[@millardhayes1884]

@pcohen85 thanks for explaining

[@berlonthrasher3941]

Are you at the airport on 120

[@pcohen85]

Yep

[@berlonthrasher3941]

@@pcohen85 Yep yeah fly across my house just about everyday just North of the phone Tower in Luxora

[@andypeterson8013]

Maybe you need to get a real helmet like a Gentex.

[@pcohen85]

I have two Gentex helmets.