Air Tractor 502 Spray Plane Walk Around 

Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words Neal and we appreciate you watching!

Thank you!!

Jeff GERBING Thanks for watching Jeff. We appreciate the support.

Haha that is cool!

Thanks for watching!

Glad you found the channel! We’re here if you have any questions.

Thanks Lincoln we try to catch them all.

Thanks, we appreciate you watching.

Appreciate you watching.

Thanks Kevin.

Thanks for watching!

Glad to have you thanks for watching.

Yeah you bet!

Charlie Ayers Thanks Charlie. I definitely can’t do it in every field but there are ones with less obstacles then others. I try to pull as little G’s as possible. There’s just no way you can sit in the aircraft for 15 hours pulling multiple G’s all day. I’ve never tried RC but we have a place about a mile from us where people fly them.

Yeah for sure. You can hook a hose to it to pressurize the boom if you needed to.

Charlie Ayers Thanks for watching Charlie. Without seeing the person fly I’m not sure what kind of turn he was doing. I’ve been flying for 15 years.

What air tractor do you have. I have the Eflite 1.5 meter one. And I perform the maneuver you are talking about in my 1.5 meter air tractor

I also have the turbo timber 1.5, p51 1.2 and viper 70mm

Thanks for watching Dave. The aircraft is not certified to fly IFR and as you saw has only basic instruments although some people do upgrade their panels. It is fun, hard, honest work.

Thanks for watching. I spent a season in a radial Thrush as well as a 400 Brave.

Yeah. If you happen to catch a power line it’s suppose to prevent it from ripping the vertical stabilizer off.

Thanks for watching Rick.

Yeah just put in 15 hours on Saturday. Fatigue is a very real thing. I try to eat right, stay hydrated, and if all else fails take a 15 min nap.

There will be slow days for sure. For our situation at least (could be different at different operations) we always have to be on call and ready to spray. Our farmers appreciate that we are there, even when we are slow or if the weather is bad. My girlfriend works with me - she does everything on the ground so we are lucky because we have the same schedule. Thanks for watching!

@@AgAviationAdventures where I used to live air tractors flew over my house every day even at night and it's pretty cool to see them work.

Sam Turberville Oh that’s very cool.

If it’s corn the plane can get sucked into the crop. I’ve thankfully never had it happen. I have to adjust for DA depending on the strip I’m working off of and how long it is.

Thanks for watching Andrew. I talk about that topic in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1U9gjsUqrvg.html

Thanks for watching. That is a vent for fresh air. The company you work for covers the insurance.

Every aircraft has some type of certification. An ag plane is certified in the "Restricted" category giving it special limitations on what it can and cannot do. Yes the same plane can do both dry and wet. You remove all the booms and pump and can hang a spreader on the bottom.

@@AgAviationAdventures thank you!

@@toadamine You bet thanks for watching.

Yes the turbine engine is extremely reliable and does not require much maintenance during the season. At 300 hours I have the fuel nozzles changed. There is a local mechanic at the municipal airport that does the maintenance.

Thanks for watching Scott. There are ADs out for a lot of aircraft that pertain to spars. It depends on the aircraft but you need to replace the spars at certain time intervals and they need inspections as well throughout the life of the spar. At annual the airframe is also inspected for fatigue and stress as well as some aircraft having inspections every 100 hours for known failure points. They do this because of known issues however I have not personally seen a wing just fall off an airplane..... I feel safe but I know the maintenance history on what I'm flying.

@@AgAviationAdventures Hey speaking of maintenance! I'm getting my A&P license right now and I was wondering what kind of maintenance these planes usually require and if it's possible to get a decent job in the Gen. Av. sector as opposed to commercial?

I just had a Tractor fly over my house today (we have some farms nearby in this part of New Jersey) and it piqued my interest, so I just discovered your videos today.

Joshua Anderson Glad you found us!

Joshua Anderson They require annuals and lots of operators perform 100hr inspections. I think there are lots of opportunities in GA maintenance for sure.

There is a company that makes a piece that mounts to the landing gear to cut lines if you happen to catch it with the gear.

Yeah they are used in quite a few.

If you start going beyond 30 miles it can be tough to get much work done. So we like to stay within that range if possible.

The lever has a button on top of it. If I push the button it opens the door completely. If I just push the lever forward without hitting the button it will hit a stop that is adjustable so you can vary the gate opening.

Charlie Ayers You’re right I should go and give it a try. Something new! That’s called a smoker. There is a button inside the cockpit and when you press it oil is injected into the exhaust and burns to create the smoke. We use them so we know which way the wind is blowing. The person would have smoked near you to make sure all of the product was going to its intended location and not drifting towards you.

Behind that is the air conditioner condenser as well as fans to keep it cool.

No I can use the same usb all summer as long as it does not run out of memory.

I actually take the booms completely off and attach a dry spreader under the aircraft.

@@AgAviationAdventures That makes more sense. Really enjoy your channel. Thanks.

No

@@AgAviationAdventures okay. There is a fellow I follow on Instagram and he does some night spraying in Saskatchewan here. It's his own fields tho.

They do quite a bit in Arizona but not any where I’m at.

I'm going about 150mph across the field and when I pull into a turn I'm doing between 75mph and 100mph depending on how loaded I am.

so you are loosing altitude as well

David Bradford Yeah in a turn I’ll climb anywhere from 300’-400’. Just depends on winds and how loaded I am.

when you turn to come back to the field and it sounds like your throttling back is that just the constant speed propeller changing pitch. And how often do you move the throttle.

David Bradford I don’t know if the sound can be attributed to one single thing or if it’s a multitude of factors. I definitely can hear the turbine engine though when it’s going away vs when it’s coming towards me. Same thing in a turn. I personally don’t touch the throttle very often. Some guys will pull it back as the load comes off but for me in this particular aircraft I leave it. I have never had an issue feeling like it’s going too fast or that I need to pull power back.

Definitely.

The wing produces vortices off the end and if the boom was as long as the wing the chemical would be caught in the vortices and would drift.

Well thanks!

I can change the orifice size of the nozzle by spinning the end. I have three different sizes.

It depends on how you crash but it’s a very well built aircraft. I don’t know survival rate stats.

@@AgAviationAdventures thank you

@@AgAviationAdventures i love air tractors a lot and flying. Thank you

Some people do however I personally do not.

You would find it advantageous to change the pitch of the prop depending on the phase of flight (takeoff, landing, cruise).

In addition to what Tyson from AG Adventure response of being efficient throughout the flight ranges, there are two other reasons changing the propeller pitch can serve as an advantage over a fixed pitch prop. Improved fuel efficiency and reducing the possible strain on the engine. In the cruise phase of flight, increasing the angle-of-attack of the propeller, will be directly proportional to increasing the torque on the engine. And, when there's an increase on engine torque, the engine slows down improving the fuel efficiency. Lastly, an RPM engine setting that is either too high or too low can damage the engine or wear it out prematurely. Like Tyson mentioned, throughout the flight envelope, you'll want to have better control over the life of a powerful, high-performance engine by being able to make prop pitch changes to get more out of the investment.

Yellow is just for visibility.

@@AgAviationAdventures Thanks great channel

Insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides.

@@AgAviationAdventures cool. I have a buddy that does this around Hillsboro Tx.

You bet!

It belongs to a family-owned company. Now we bought our own company and own our own planes.

Typically 2-5 depending on what the product is and the reason for spraying (insects, fungus, etc) as well as what crop it is.

Connor Lynch No we work for a company that owns the plane.

@@AgAviationAdventures Thankyou!

Connor Lynch You bet thanks for watching.

Negative. This is an Air Tractor 502. 😂

​@@AgAviationAdventures Piper Pawnee!?!!?🙄 The Pipers use Lycoming recips, if I'm not mistaken. The Air Tractors all use some variant of the Pratt and Whitney PT6. That alone would give most folks a clue! These keyboard know-it-alls get more and more brazen at each Moon rising!🤣🤣🤣

😀

No we work for a company that owns the aircraft.

It’s definitely not large.

Thanks for watching Trace.

The rudders are the pedals on the floor and they control the yaw.

@@AgAviationAdventures i understand. Please show in flight and talk through