Farmers Fly This Airplane Most - Piper Pawnee

[@johnnyhoover5870]

I live in the central valley of California, all agriculture land. These are so common here as crop dusters. I'm not sure a drone would compete here with these beasts. We work in thousands of acres, not in 10s or 100s. Crazy maneuvers and watching them at night are scary and awesome.

[@evanhill110]

I am a student glider pilot and my club (BGGC in the UK) has one of these aircraft painted in bright orange (G-NYMF) that they use as a tug for aerotowing, although the majority of flights we do are winch launches from the ground with a Skylaunch winch system

[@keithalexander7953]

Growing up in the eighties, the Pawnee was THE tow plane of choice for sailplanes and soaring. Also ag dusting, but that wasn't my world lol.

[@Max50ww]

It’s STILL the tow plane of choice for sailplane tugs. I am a member of a glider club and maintain 2 of them.

[@MrReganmt]

@a-pluscomputerservices1502they do, don’t worry.

[@JohnCunningham-sy5ug]

During my trucking career the past 41 years I've spent a lot of time in rural America and watch these type of aircraft crop dusting very entertaining

[@kiwijonowilson]

This brings back memories, both for flying a glider behind one of these and also flying one as a glider tow pilot. They are certainly very agricultural in nature but there are quite a few safety features for the intended task (probably varying depending on what year and spec it is). The one I flew was a PA25-235 (very similar spec to the one in this video but was variable pitch prop when I flew it - subsequently been changed I believe). Safety features (in the even of an accident) included things like pretty good pilot protection, fuel tanks further out on the wings, can exit cockpit either side, and wire cutters on the undercarriage (at least on the one I flew) in case you go through a fence. They tend to glide like a brick and unless you have a decent amount of height you are landing in whatever is in front of you. Glider towing can be quite hard on air cooled engines as you climb at a relatively low speed and high power setting and then rapidly descend (to get the plane back down for the next tow). I remember in the earlier days they used to crack a few cylinders doing this (due to rapid cooling cycle) which led to an unusual operating procedure. I don't know if the procedure has changed now, but when I flew it, we used to tow up on full power (only reducing pitch very slightly for noise abatement), then on release would put the nose down (winding trim full forward) and keep it on full power until base leg (where hopefully engine temperature has been reduced by airspeed)! In any case I don't recall any further engine cylinder cracking happening and made for interesting and quite fun circuits. Gives you an idea of how draggy the air frame is, if you can fly descent and most of the circuit on full power.

[@juniormartin7164]

Reminds me of my youth when they were used to apply chemicals to the banana plantations in the Caribbean. Thanks for the trek down memory lane!

[@madpete6438]

My friend has 3x of these - 1x flying 2x being restored ! There were heaps of these in New Zealand - it is steep here and big planes can not manoeuvre at low levels. They are very tough too.

[@JohnDavis-yj7lf]

Back when I was a police officer in Hughes Arkansas, I clocked a crop duster similar to that at 165 in a dive on radar... could have been an Airtractor IDK... cool video. 😎

[@Max50ww]

Modern spray planes like air tractors and Thrush are MUCH faster than Pawnees. 165 mph is right on par for an Airtractor

[@tgh223]

turbine@@Max50ww

[@willjohnson3907]

I fly the Brave, Pawnees older brother with a IO-720. We use it for its original purpose, ag flying. And you should check out a crop dusting operation during the corn run in the summer in the Midwest. They don’t use Pawnees anymore because they are too small nowadays most airplanes are 500-800 gallons with big turbines. There are millions and millions of acres covered by ag planes there is noooooo way drones can do it more efficiently and especially not faster

[@steveprice4779]

I agree....my dad was a Piper dealer and we worked on lots of them. Great aircraft. Drones are fun but really how much chemicals can they carry....not much...

[@blakejake9618]

I used to think drones could do it, but an 85ft swath at 150mph is hard to beat. Also you still need someone to load all those drones and the list of people willing to work in places like South Dakota and Nebraska for seasonal work is already very small and drones would need significantly more loaders to run them. Airplanes have a better application too pushing the product into the field while drones just throw it all over the place.

[@stonehorn4641]

My grandfather flew a Tawnee for 2 decades for crop dusting, and I flew it on local farms from age 14 right up until I finished college! Every year I made a killing dusting thousands of acres of Alberta farmland every year (sorry FAA, I was a kid, I didn't know I couldn't sell my services). I'd be dusting crops for 10 hour days dusting crops in early spring and mid summer. There were times I could log 70+ hours a week with wheels up, and I charged per acre. My grandfather never once asked me to pay for anything but the fuel and chemicals. When my friends were out working the fields and getting hammered around tractor cabs, I'd be flying around with dangerous pesticides. When I finished high school in 99, I had over 2400 flight hours, and my grandfather gave me his Cessna 172 for graduation. I still own it (but Don't fly it a lot because i have two planes I enjoy more). Man, what memories. Didn't realize just how many hours I put in that old farm toy. 😳 I wish I knew where it went after I finished college. I know my grandfather stopped flying alone soon after that. I wonder if it was sold?.?.?. Now I need to start making calls home.

[@jamesringler987]

Look up the registration #

[@carmudgeon7478]

Disassembled Braves and Pawnees can be had in some eastern Colorado, western Kansas farm communities for cheap. $7000 for one in Cheyenne Wells last year. You have to go hunt them up, they aren't on FB market place. Air Tractors and the like with 1200 hp have taken over.

[@paulbest6679]

Where would you look for them?

[@amerassi9319]

I did not fully understand the comment. Do you mean that this plane Pawnees in the video cost $7,000? If so, can you write the address or name of the sites that sell these aircraft? thank you in advance

[@stuartferguson7947]

Many Pawnees are converted to 250 HP and the D series 260 HP; I’m currently involved in converting a 235 to 250 HP

[@bernardanderson3758]

Love the Pawnee for towing banners and Gliders

[@TXGunGeek]

The Pawnee was created from the AG-3. Which came form the AG-1, the first purpose built agricultural use aircraft. Designed and built at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, now Texas A&M University. I've got pictures from when these were design ed and built at the Wind Tunnel then towed up the hill to Easterwood Field.

[@guitarhillbilly1482]

I use to load the 235 Pawnee and here's how it went on hot summer days. Although the hopper would hold 150 gallons we never loaded it to MAX. Early morning flights we load about 130 gallons and 25 gallons of fuel. Late morning we were downloading to about 110 Gallons and in the hot afternoon the plane was loaded to about 100 gallons and 25 gallons of fuel. The 540 Lycoming is one tough Engine as I watched the Pawnees takeoff and land about every 45 minutes all day long All season long.

[@dja1353]

I guess the Pawnee has made it to glider ops throughout the world because of its excess power which delivers a greater safety margin (the ground kills so get away from it fast). Mighty thirsty though. Someone associated with Cranfield University has replaced the IO540 in a Piper Malibu with an electronic motor powered by batteries and a fuel cell. Thanks for showing the Pawnee Mike.

[@misterskymaster6667]

In South Florida they are extensively used for banner towing. You forgot to mention for potential future buyers that they are completely fabric covered.

[@dushidog6488]

the orange handle releases the towingcable on side of the pawnee. the video shows the release on the glider side done by the glider.

[@sisenor4091]

Nice meeting you at the Sun and Fun airshow today. 4/6/22 My daughter is a huge fan, so am I. Keep the great job.

[@DanFrederiksen]

Such a recognizable goofy looking bird :) and the tow mechanism right by the life critical wires for the rudder :) Towing is such a weakness for gliders, I guess there is some team building in it because you can't do it alone but because it has such great glide ratio and it takes so little to keep it in the air and all it needs is a boost and it can stay up on its own, then a tiny inexpensive jet product is obvious. Momentary fuel inefficiency is not important and the lightness of the jet engine means you don't burden the design in general. And the small size makes for a small popup mechanism. Super obvious for the glider crowd and could transition a segment into realizing the transport value of an engine. Adapted to a turbofan plane it might sustain 300km/h at altitude with very modest fuel burn. You could imagine it going coast to coast without refueling. that would be something.

[@evanhill110]

There are already some gliders with turbine sustainer/self launch engines, which are incredibly noisy and not the most practical. My club in the UK offers aerotows with a Pawnee, as well as winch launching with a Skylaunch winch. Because of the position and topography of our grass airfield, self launching gliders just can't operate out of it, so have to be towed or winched. The winch gets you to 1500ft in under a minute, but the aerotow is useful to gain more altitude or move the glider to a specific position, whereas the winch launch leaves the glider at height just off the end of the airfield.

[@DanFrederiksen]

@@evanhill110 I doubt a small turbine is much noisier than a tow plane unless placed right behind the pilot, it could be closer to the tail. but what I suggested with a turbofan would no longer be a glider, that would be a proper plane. Pressurized too to glide very high and very fast. U2 style. To actually go placed, unlike a glider which is a very complex form of useless. Expensive too

[@harrywall4403]

As a Farmer myself I see a lot of work for crop dusting. I still can't figure it out how drones will do the job that these planes do, but perhaps I'm wrong... in my area there are mostly Air tractors crop dusting.

[@willjohnson3907]

Yeah there is no way drones will take crop dusting from ag pilots in at least 50 years. There are about 4,000 ag pilots in the US flying mostly 400-800 gallon airplanes. Almost all this work is done at 160mph sunup to sundown. It would take MILLIONS of the current ag drones to do all this work in the timely manner that most this work must be done.

[@falkescheibe2835]

Sweet memories hanging behind this beast.

[@TARPD]

Mojo back in the 70s I helped towing gliders in my day in Cubs!

[@tombowers2020]

Good review. The Pawnee is the Jeep of A/C!

[@johnkochan4819]

The Pawnee was based on the AG-3 built at The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. Better known as Texas A&M. Starting with the AG-1 the prototypes were built under the Low Speed Wind Tunnel on the grounds of Easterwood Field then towed uphill to the airfield by a tractor. The project was to develop an aircraft purpose built for agricultural purposes. I've got scans of B&W pictures from back when all this happened. Long before I worked here. at TAMU AeroSpace.

[@brunoraina1653]

This beautiful plane continues to be manufactured and marketed, they have even developed a 2-seat version. The company is called LAVIA ARGENTINA SA!

[@YFA912]

Awesome, looks like Dusty, the Pixar character

[@mrmarquis7259]

In the south. They are called Agwagon / air tractor...love theplane..

[@phillippierce5974]

My favorite tow plane!

[@in-motus]

I fly these things now in my gliding club too! Heaps of fun to fly.

[@jakepetersen677]

sprayed about 19000 acres in one of these this year. hit a drone. had to wipe him off my windshield

[@Joe___schmoe]

I see these all the time

[@guitarhillbilly1482]

A drone that would carry the weight of a modern ag plane would cost millions more than a Thrush or Air Tractor. Not even practical at present time. In the early 1970's Pawnees were still being used as AG Planes in large numbers. Eventually the Pawnee was replaced by the much faster and much larger Payload Air Tractors and Thrushes. Got to mention the Grumman Ag Cat here also as a very good Ag plane.

[@ibiufos]

There's a fuselage frame for 1 of these for sale near me for $3200 I've seen some advertised for around $25000 complete no doubt they would need over hauling. No doubt if they where a 2 seater you would see a lot more flying around.

[@EJWash57]

That 1200-pound placard is the max allowable weight of the hopper payload - NOT the weight of the airplane. Max takeoff weight is 2,900lbs. Those "things" you refer to on the tail? Those are braces. Horizontal stab to vertical stab, top and bottom. Always external, never internal. Absence of braces means the flight surfaces were designed not to have them. There's a certain community of crop dusting pilots that migrate around the country in these airplanes. A gypsy life, as it were.

[@amerassi9319]

nice and usefull video thank you for share

[@doranjaffas7351]

Now I feel old. Struts on the top of the wings were normal and I'm only 61 years old.

[@MonostripeZebra]

It is a bit weird to see a red tow release.. normally the international color code is yellow, blue for spoilers and green for trim. Red only for emergency items.

[@Ben-zf7ub]

That release is only used in an emergency. The video showed a release from the glider end which is normal. The tow release in the tug is in case the glider cannot release or gets extremely out of position on tow and is unsafe.

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

How are the aerobatic capabilities of the Paw? Will it roll, loop and candelle barely or wery willingly?

[@MichaelCarterShow]

Interestin plane. Nt my cup of tea though. #salute my gud brotha!!!!

[@flysport_tedder]

4:30 pretty sure that's an emergency cable release, not one that's used normal tows.

[@janeygibbs9481]

Drones are still pretty slow so they are not yet competing with the large crop dusters we have..

[@alexgeorge2993]

You can also get the turbine powered agricultural aircraft but they are very expensive 500 to 800 hp which is madness!! I hope that one day you do a video on my favourite aircraft of all time and my dream plane which is the Cessna 195 :-)

[@willjohnson3907]

500? Most of them are 600-1400hp

[@alexgeorge2993]

@@willjohnson3907 wow!!

[@flymachine]

when are we going to build the Twin Sling?

[@okhera1]

Also can use drones for the gliders. Lol

[@okhera1]

Very Nice Bro! Get Good People/Pilots!

[@guitarhillbilly1482]

A drone that would carry the weight of a modern ag plane would cost millions more than a Thrush or Air Tractor. Not even practical at present time. In the early 1970's Pawnees were still being used as AG Planes in large numbers. Eventually the Pawnee was replaced by the much faster and much larger Payload Air Tractors and Thrushes. Got to mention the Grumman Ag Cat here also as a very good Ag plane. Air Tractor is a Brand Name Ag plane so flying a Pawnee is not flying an Air Tractor.

[@flyingark173]

What happens to the rope used for towing? Do both planes drop it?

[@willjohnson3907]

Plane pulls it back to the airport and they drop it before landing.

[@flyingark173]

@@willjohnson3907 thanks!

[@keithalexander7953]

The sailplane pilot disengages the hook that connects her plane to the tow rope. The tow rope generally stays connected for the next tow. Ground crew might retrieve a "weak link" belonging to the sailplane pilot.

[@dushidog6488]

at altitude the glider disengage, and the tug returns with cable.Normally it drops the cable at the landingsite, makes a low small pattern and lands. some times depanding on landing site it lands with cable

[@rumpledxkn]

I was about to ask the same thing.

[@jakepetersen677]

140 gallons loaded with 13lbs a gallon fertilizer with fungicide on a 95 degree day on a half mile grass strip fully loaded with fuel and you'll maybe you'll understand that 235 HP aint shit when your wheels catch the beans at the end of the runway

[@bernardanderson3758]

Love to come out and help out with the flying

[@bernardanderson3758]

With that O-320 that’s enough for all you need

[@guitarhillbilly1482]

for Ag Flying or Glider Towing?

[@arlynkraft3581]

Never flew a working aircraft that had to much power.

[@guitarhillbilly1482]

@@arlynkraft3581 Exactly!

[@17Benton]

Sorry but your wrong only the first prototype pawnee had 130hp engine, the rest were 150hp models and up!

[@IsaacWarrenMurrell]

does the towplane retract the cable after release?

[@mojogrip]

no it just flies with it attached.

[@jimkaz8551]

aola, 30,000 in one

[@charlesrobinson8143]

Nothing like chemical saturated veggies

[@jimkaz8551]

it felt like 30

[@JohnMphs]

….unless you grew up on a farm.

[@jimkaz8551]

opps I mENT 10k

[@williamkinney427]

This MojoGrip guy does not seem to know much airplane terminology.....and his use of english is not great. Perhaps his background in aviation is quite limited....

[@okhera1]

ALHAMDULILLAH(SWT), ASTAGHFIRULLAH(SWT).