Hi Oldfart... perpetual student here as well.
IMHO wind turbine fields should pay double. They just take that much longer if you are doing an honest effort.

Thought of this thread again today. As luck would have it, I've been spending a fair amount of time in the Travel Air. The place has a half dozen strips of all manner and length, but the mid day valley wind always seems to favor a 700' patch that is nestled between a couple longer, but crosswinded strips. Length is not much of a challenge for the old girl, but the 60' palms at the threshold, combined with plenty of ground obstructions, and a dogleg if you run long, all necessitate getting it down, and keeping it going where you want. Big slip over the trees, followed by pushing the nose around to keep it minding.

Probably quite a departure from the OP's intended direction, but stick and rudder as it was meant to be.

Take care, Rob

Oh and for any turbine ag guys.... does anyone else get creeped out by the sound a prop makes when you push hard one way or the other? I wonder how much those long blades are really deflecting under the push?

We didn't worry in small ag and the Hamilton Standard in bigger round engines was built like a dozer A-frame. What is the n2 or prop rpm on turbines? Aren't those big expensive props built to flex like rotor blades or big jet airplane wings?

Yeah the turbine prop blade makes a weird flutter in a hard rudder turn, I wish there was a good way to video it because they would show quite a bit of flex I bet. I saw some blades on a 402 that were so thin you could easily flex the blade tip a couple inches either direction with your hands, had a very distinct flutter on takeoff. My strangest rudder turn experience was in a turbine cat that still had the offset tail, that thing would buck violently like riding a bull. That plane wasn’t very well rigged, it had all kinds of quirks.

Rudder turns for me are just another tool in the box for cleaning up around lines, creek banks, burned up equipment left in the field, etc. There are days I can’t get cotton defoliant to drift 3 feet downwind, there’s no way I’d get some tight spots sprayed without a rudder steer into and out of the area. To me it’s safer than dipping a wing getting around an obstacle, as long as the nose is low you aren’t at the risk of snap rolling in the spraying environment.

I agree on the wind turbines Rob, they’re just showing up in our area, luckily I don’t have any work around them. We’ve talked amongst ourselves on putting in a surcharge if working within a mile of them. I know what I need to gross per hour to get the bills paid, I’m not coming off that because someone wanted the quick money from a wind farm.

Are you working a Travel Air?

Yep,

Pretty much my thought process on the subject as well.

Nope, not really on the Travel Air. Although the C triple A does have a really cool restored travel air that was a working duster. This one belongs to a good friend who allows me the privilege of exercising it from time to time. Next weekend he is allowing me to donate rides to the local 4H, which will in turn raffle off the rides and keep the proceeds, he gets to smile at all the smiles he is creating, and enjoy the sight of one of his own toys taking to the skies again.
As payment I have been taking some of his winter visitors for tours of our valley this week. Hard bargain... that guy drives

Win-win for everyone


I apologize for the drift Moto, and BTW, sorry it didn't work out when you were in PSP! it would have been a good opportunity .

Take care, Rob

Somewhere I have a book from the 80’s with a bunch of pictures from California ag operations, one of them was using a Travel Air for sulfur dusting. Beautiful pictures, I’ll try to find it.