An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use -- usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertiliser (aerial topdressing); in this role they are referred to as "top dressers" or "crop dusters." Agricultural aircraft are also used for hydroseeding. The most common agricultural aircraft are fixed-wing, such as the Air Tractor, Grumman Ag Cat, PAC Fletcher, or Rockwell Thrush Commander but helicopters are also used. Crop dusting with insecticides began in the 1920s in the United States. The first widely used agricultural aircraft were converted war-surplus biplanes, such as the De Havilland Tiger Moth and Stearman. After more effective insecticides and fungicides were developed in the 1940s, and aerial topdressing was developed by government research in New Zealand, purpose-built agricultural fixed-wing aircraft became common. In the US and Europe they are typically small, simple, and rugged. Many have spraying systems built into their wings, and pumps are usually driven by wind turbines. In places where farms are larger, such as New Zealand, Australia, the former Warsaw pact nations and parts of the developing world, larger and more powerful aircraft have been used, including turboprop powered aircraft such as the PAC Cresco, twin engined types, such as the Lockheed Lodestar and varying from the versatile and utilitarian Antonov An-2 biplane to the bizarre turbofan powered biplane, the WSK-Mielec M-15 Belphegor- all however tend to be of simple rugged STOL design. In places where dedicated use as an agricultural aircraft is uneconomic, utility types such as the De Havillland Canada DHC2 Beaver have been used. In the case of helicopters, tanks are placed on or outside the body of the aircraft, while a spray rig, extending outward to the sides, is attached well below the main rotor blades. Hydroseeding is often done by helicopters using tanks and drop systems much like those used for aerial firefighting. Aerial spraying of pesticides has been controversial since the 1960s, as a result of environmental concerns (raised for example by Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring). It is now often subject to restrictions, for example spraying pesticide it is generally banned in Sweden, although exceptions can be made such as for an area plagued by mosquitos during summer. Even the spread of fertiliser has raised concerns, for example in New Zealand fertiliser entering streams has been found to disproportionately promoted growth of speices more able to exploit the increased nutrients, so leading to restrictions on topdressing near waterways. Even putting out forrest fires has been critised in the U.S.A. as preventing natural consumption of flamable material, and increasing long term risk.
See also
- Aerial topdressing
- Aerial firefighting
- Aerial application
- Notable cropduster pilots:
- Lefty Gardner
- Merle B. Gustafson
- Robert "Bob" Graves
- Alan Pritchard
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