It's been quite a few years since I've seen an aerial applicator on my mountainside, the two big farmers who
work the entire east bench I'm on now have those giant 3 wheeled spray rigs. Their "wing span" looks to be about 80' at least. Last spring, due to our record snowfall, right above my house I saw that they got tired of waiting for the last snow drifts to melt off, and they just plowed right thru them. Down in the valley, dusters are still the thing, not so much up here.

CenterHillAg wrote:So much of it screams Stinson. Looks like a reliant with a cutback fuselage, highlift wing with the lower wing being adapted to it. Looks like a Swathmaster underneath it, best spreader ever!

hotrod180 wrote:Looks like a Stinson L5 "Sentinel" with some wing trickery & a round engine.
I'm not familiar enough with radials to ID the engine from the pic,
but Stinson equipped a lot of airplanes with Lycoming 680's.

Good guesses!

The Clevenger was indeed a surplus L5, modified with the addition of surplus Luscombe wings for lowers, and surplus w670's on the nose. Cool airplanes for sure. Not too crazy about the hopper being behind the pilot, but Cubs did it too


Take care, Rob

Cub - poor visibility in turn, pilot hits first, engine comes back into pilots face, chemical comes up onto pilots back.
Pawnee and all look alikes - great visibility in turn, low wing absorbs energy of crash, hopper between pilot and engine, pilot head highest part of airplane on trailing edge but well above wing for good visibility and both fuselage and wing below to absorb energy.
After all these years, which airplane killed most and which airplane killed least in same number of hours flown?
Pug Piper felt bad about the Cub fatalities so he had something done about it.

Only a few Cubs were used in Australia on AG, New Zealand used a more till the likes of Beaver and Fletcher became available. Pawnees used extensively till bigger aircraft became available like Snow/Thrush and Tractors. Smattering of Cessna's (180/185) were used for spraying and topdressing till Agwagons/Trucks came out.
A few other types like Ceres, Transavia Airtruck, Percival EP9, Callair, Cropmaster, Agcat and even poor old Tiger Moth were used in smaller numbers.

Nice video of a typical New Zealand Ag Pilots run, sowing fertiliser on hill country farm. Aircraft NZ built Cresco, 750 HP, normal load two ton depending on strip conditions weather etc. Good commentary explaining what is going on.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=31081 ... LGBOSOwe9J

Nice video. Ten gallon work in a Pawnee had to be close to the field so about twelve minutes total run, but not that quick.

First busy night of the season. Wrapped it up well into the morning on alfalfa. Got busted by the grower flying in the daylight hours

Rob wrote:

First busy night of the season. Wrapped it up well into the morning on alfalfa. Got busted by the grower flying in the daylight hours

Great photo!


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Great shot Rob. I've been thoroughly enjoying have the planes st my strip all summer. 3 502s and 1 802. Crazy how quiet the 802 is compared to the 502 even though its pulling a lot more HP and weight. It only pulls about 1740RPM at takeoff, couple that with a 5 blade prop and it really knocks down the dB on takeoff. I'm actually a bit disappointed with how quiet it is, but I definitely understand why they are trending that direction.

Late for weevil Rob. What is going on the alfalfa? I stopped by Jack Frost's outfit at Palestine, Arkansas to see a former Ag Flight student who was flying 802 for Jack, David. I asked what the two extra blades were all about. "It means you have arrived," he said.

contactflying wrote:Late for weevil Rob. What is going on the alfalfa? I stopped by Jack Frost's outfit at Palestine, Arkansas to see a former Ag Flight student who was flying 802 for Jack, David. I asked what the two extra blades were all about. "It means you have arrived," he said.

Ya its a beast for sure. I'll just be happy to work on it for now. Haha.

Greyhound Bus! Even the 302 was too much beast for ol contact. I was plenty willing to just fly Pawnee and CallAir. And the beasts were too expensive. And close in on smaller fields, I could keep up.

Thx guys. If the grower wasn't a good friend I would have been seriously annoyed. My visor being down (I never use one), the flat light, and the shadow of his head tell the story I wouldn't admit to otherwise... This field was long and skinny east - west, and that is how I set it up (at sun up) . So while I'm doing my best to maintain a reasonable facsimile of a good job without tagging the ground or obstacles, he was weaving and bobbing in front of me on the east end to take pictures

Yes, almost no worms in the alfalfa all summer long! Thought we just weren't going to spray any hay this year, but here they are. Better late than never, and helps us get warmed up for produce.

802's have definitely made their mark as one of the most desirable ag planes to end up in (for the hired pilot). Unfortunately even a 602 is just too big, too fast, and too cantankerous for our cut up region and varied mixes. Couple that with acquisition and insurance cost and they just don't pencil out. Mission, mission, mission... a 400 or 500 gal. Thrush (or 4-502) fit quite well here, and you can buy, feed, and maintain a fleet of them for the same as a single 802.

Two of our Thrush have three blades. Those can be refitted with an Avia 5 blade which is quieter, but doesn't produce as much thrust. The third one wears a 4 blade. It turns slower than the 3 blades as well, but produces more thrust. Seems to be the magic prop for this engine size / airframe combination.

Take care, Rob

It always comes down to mission for sure Rob. When this outfit moved out west they quickly realized that the 402 was to small out here. Lots of half and full sections, and customers that demand a 4 gallon rate. Back in Manitoba where they do produce and have smaller fields the 4/502 is great. Over here the 802 and 502 can leave at the same time and return at the same time, but the 802 has done 20% more. Thanks to mipe or more long runs. It'll take a couple years to know the numbers for sure, but so far they like it. I'm trying to talk them into leaving the 402 here so I can be their standby pilot with it, but that hasn't caught on yet. Haha.