Let’s Talk Ag Planes
The big yellow airplane… If you live in an agricultural area, you have likely seen a large, yellow, low-flying aircraft. The most commonly used ag planes today are manufactured by Air Tractor (AT) and Thrush. There are several models, but the most common is the Air Tractor 502. 500 designating the size of the hopper (where the ag liquids are held). The largest ag plane is an Air Tractor 802 which holds 800 gallons of liquid. If you’re spraying at 2 gallons/ac, one can go out and spray 400 acres in a load (in theory, there are a lot of variables that go into this).
A common misconception about ag planes is that there are only a select few in the U.S. There are roughly 3,500 ag aircraft in the United States (agaviation.org) and appearance wise, the majority of them look similar. If you see a yellow airplane spraying in Arkansas, that is likely not the same airplane as shown in our YouTube videos. Check out the following video that shows the basics of the Air Tractor 502 Tyson flies.
The aircraft is very important to get the job done, but the job couldn’t be completed without the spray equipment. In a simplified terms, there are four main elements to the spray system of ag planes. They are: the hopper, the pump, the nozzles, and the GPS. The next video walks through how this spray system works.
And a more in depth look as to how the GPS/Lightbar works…
And lastly, another common misconception about Ag Aviation is that it is a low tech, fly by the seat of your pants, uncalculated industry. That couldn't be further from the truth and technology has really helped us to make accurate, safe, and precise applications. The Flow Control is a device used to ensure the amount of product being applied to a field is the same even if variables are changing. You can learn more about it in the video below.
Ag planes can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $2,000,000 depending on year, hours, size, etc. and play an important role in U.S. agriculture. There have been a lot of advancements in Ag Planes in the last 100 years helping us to do our job more efficiently. Did you know: the ag aviation industry treats 127 million acres of cropland aerially each year (agaviation.org). This statistic wouldn’t be possible without these amazing aircraft.