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Dangerous Stuff



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 21st 05, 10:01 PM
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Default Dangerous Stuff

Have been thinking of things to post re;Ag Flying with rotorcraft. I
have to pay more attention to my work though! In many of my fields
here, they are irrigated with sprinkler pivots. Generally I'll have to
fly over them spraying to get the crops underneath. I haven't measured
the tallest points on them, but guess 25'? so I have to kind of
"blooper" over them while spraying. that often poses some interesting
control inputs and that caught my attention today. It requires quick
inputs but absolutely smooth ones to keep things on an even keel. Much
too difficult to describe aside from doing a pitch pull to go up, and a
cyclic push to keep level followed quickly by aft cyclic to flare on
the other side while lowering the collective and then level with cyclic
again, and all the while manipulating the throttle to keep rpms right.
Another point on the turn-arounds, I stay in translational flight all
the way thru so if the engine pukes, I can do a decent auto from
anywhere in the turn.
Got pretty close to some trees on a downwind pullup yesterday. I got
into the shadow, the window was a little dirty, and I lost my depth
perception. So, I realized I'd have to use some other visual points for
my pull up. Nothing dramatic...no pine needles on the booms or no tip
caps smacked ggg and didn't brush my skids in the tree tops.....close
enough to make me whistle though...
Have had my loader take some photos and one day we'll get them up.
Often when the wind is calm, the spray hangs in the air and I fly back
thru it which makes my windscreen look like some one sprayed furniture
polish on it, or milk. Its a bitch when you are flying into the rising
sun and obstacles in front of you. bad enough flying into the rising
sun anyway but with a dirty window its worse.
Been flying 8-9 hours a day with some great weather.
Cheers from Finlander country.
Rocky

  #2  
Old June 21st 05, 10:26 PM
SHIVER ME TIMBERS
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wrote:

Cheers from Finlander country.


Another great post Rocky... keep them coming.

Findlander country... eh.

Well I was reading your post the other day about going to the headwater
of the mighty Mississippi and being a tad brain dead I kinda though you
were in the deep south... silly me.

It wasn't until I read a previous post of yours about potato patches in
Minniesota that if dawned on me where the headwaters of the Mississippi
were located.

Hey... you should try some of those Finnish saunas at the end of a day.

I can remember with fond and lusty memories some of the fun I had with
some of my girlfriends in my late teens growing up in Finlander
country.

We used to go down to the Finnish sauna on a Friday or Saturday night
have something sweet like cake, grab some cokes, and retire to a
private sauna room for a couple of hours. Each private sauna came with
a change room with a cot and I can't imagine how many body fluids got
swapped on those cots over the years, but I will guess lots.

It sure beat going out to the local airport to watch the submarine
races on a nippy winter's night.
  #3  
Old June 22nd 05, 10:53 PM
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How about this one...Yesterday, the local competitor and good guy,
flying his big 600hp Thrush, was threatened by some jerkwater that if
he ever flew over his property again, he'd shoot him down! Now, the
pilot has been working this area for years and never had any problems.
Then the jerkoff even called the customers office and told THEM he'd
shoot the airplane if it came over his property. Even ID'd himself and
its all on tape. I suspect its gonna get messy. I've had that happen a
number of times, been shot at and missed, shot at and hit. I'm here to
tell you if some asshole threatens to shoot me, he will find himself
handcuffed to a jailbed when he recovers conciousness and I will press
every charge I can think of.
We got blown out today. Had an interesting few moments when I did a
downwind pull-up and was trying to turn over 50' pine trees....couldn't
get it to turn and started losing altitude. thought I'd have to dump
the load when it began to respond and I kept on going. Sure got my
attention though. Thought sure I was going down in the timber. Oooouch
I'll guess the wind at my altitude was probably blowing 20+-
Wheeeew
Rocky

  #4  
Old June 27th 05, 09:14 PM
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Another interesting day.... Was finished with a field and had a cleanup
load in the hopper sitting on the truck at idle. Out of the haze came a
humoungous thunderstorm from behind me...the wind shifted 180 so fast I
couldn't get off the truck safely with a load. So I had to shut it down
and wait it out. The wind kicked up to about 50-60, the blades kept
"sailing" and flapping. I sat there strapped in literally flying the
helicopter with that strong wind behind me and hoping I didn't get
blown off the truck. Heavy heavy rain was forcing its way in thrugh the
rear of the doors and I got soaked. After perhaps :20 minutes the storm
blew on by and things settled back down. I fired it up, lifted off and
sprayed out the load and quit for the day. What an interesting
experience!
Cheers
Rocky

wrote:
How about this one...Yesterday, the local competitor and good guy,
flying his big 600hp Thrush, was threatened by some jerkwater that if
he ever flew over his property again, he'd shoot him down! Now, the
pilot has been working this area for years and never had any problems.
Then the jerkoff even called the customers office and told THEM he'd
shoot the airplane if it came over his property. Even ID'd himself and
its all on tape. I suspect its gonna get messy. I've had that happen a
number of times, been shot at and missed, shot at and hit. I'm here to
tell you if some asshole threatens to shoot me, he will find himself
handcuffed to a jailbed when he recovers conciousness and I will press
every charge I can think of.
We got blown out today. Had an interesting few moments when I did a
downwind pull-up and was trying to turn over 50' pine trees....couldn't
get it to turn and started losing altitude. thought I'd have to dump
the load when it began to respond and I kept on going. Sure got my
attention though. Thought sure I was going down in the timber. Oooouch
I'll guess the wind at my altitude was probably blowing 20+-
Wheeeew
Rocky


  #5  
Old June 27th 05, 09:17 PM
SHIVER ME TIMBERS
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wrote:

What an interesting experience!


And another interesting story.

That's the sort of stuff that makes this newsgroup worth reading.
  #6  
Old June 28th 05, 08:56 PM
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You remind me of the time I got lost in the Bayuda desert in Egypt
while ferrying an Ag Husky (cessna) from Cairo to Khartoum. It was 10
hours into the flight and I had missed a checkpoint. No navaids except
an ONC chart. anyway, I got caught in a sandstorm and was forced down
to about 500' adl (above desert level..gg) when I came up on the
Nile. I elected to stay with it since my fuel state was now down to an
hour and I had 2 hours to Khartoum. If I was going down I wanted to
stick close to water. then I popped out of the storm and decided to
land in the nearest flat piece I could see. Way out in the distance I
saw what appeared toa be a road and headed for the landing. Lo and
behold it was a dirt strip! I landed and taxied in to the parking area.
didn't even have time for the engine to cool down when the sand storm
hit. I tried to get out but the wind and sand was just too fierce. Then
the temps in the cockpit drove me out and I hunkered down under the
tail on the downwind side. Then it began to rain mud drops and I got
out in it to wash down some of the sweat. The rain became clear and the
wind died down. water was about ankle deep by then. I saw one of my
tires had gone flat so I just got out the half gallon of Scotch I was
taking to the guys in Khartoum and poured a stiff one, sat down and
started to relax.
Yahoooo
Rocky

  #7  
Old June 28th 05, 08:58 PM
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Clean up loads or passes are for the edges of the fields or around
obstacles so nothing gets untreated in the field. Sometimes we also do
a rinse load and it is sprayed on the target field so we have a clean
system when we head for the next field. Some pilots refer to them as
"headland" passes.
Rocky

  #8  
Old July 10th 05, 09:18 PM
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In case anyone is interested, been doing some busy days of late.
Several 10+ hours days in the cockpit. Weather cooperated and we had to
get caught up. Get caught up and then have to sit again for a day or
two...now busy trying to get caught up again! It will go this way all
season. This morning we began at daylight and the wind got us about
0800 after a couple hundred acres. so I spent the rest of the a.m.
cleaning the blades and sealing a leak on one of the hopper tanks. Took
a nap and it was much appreciated even though I get a good nights
sleep. Another pilot I know calls them "safety naps" and it is so
appropriate.
Several times in the wind I've noticed a really hard time getting
turned around. I can't help but wonder where in hell some people say
the wind has no affect on performance. I guess they have never done any
ag work. I had a discussion with Barry Schiff re; clean blades and
their affect on performance. While I have enormous for him and his
career, I wish he could experience the difference in dirty blades/wings
in crop dusting vs clean/polished blades/wings. I think he'd rearrange
his thinking on that subject.
In the earliest discussion here I was accused of being too cavalier or
nonchalant about the dangers involved and poo pooed the damage I had
incurred while crop spraying/dusting. There is no doubt this is one of
the more dangerous aspects of flying in putting ourselves in the red
zone on every flight we make and requiring that we make zero mistakes
lest we end up in the emergency room and on the News At 9.
Even so, after 39 years of doing it, I still get a smile on my face
when the day goes right, the turns are like on rails, the spray pattern
is moving slowly downwind, there are no bumps and the engine is smooth,
the blades are smooth and there is no hop to anything....and the money
meter is going Ka Chingggg.....
Oh yessss.....ag flying is unique and satisfying in a particular way.
Rocky

  #9  
Old July 10th 05, 10:18 PM
Franklin Newton
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Not being rotory rated I can't compare clean on blades, but the Cessna C188
suffers terribly when the L/E is dirty and the Weatherly 201B flies on just
the same, I think airfoil section,among other attributes, has a lot to do
with it and most blades have a symmetrical section.Keep up the good work
Rocky, by the way, what's your average field size you're working there?

wrote in message
ups.com...
In case anyone is interested, been doing some busy days of late.
Several 10+ hours days in the cockpit. Weather cooperated and we had to
get caught up. Get caught up and then have to sit again for a day or
two...now busy trying to get caught up again! It will go this way all
season. This morning we began at daylight and the wind got us about
0800 after a couple hundred acres. so I spent the rest of the a.m.
cleaning the blades and sealing a leak on one of the hopper tanks. Took
a nap and it was much appreciated even though I get a good nights
sleep. Another pilot I know calls them "safety naps" and it is so
appropriate.
Several times in the wind I've noticed a really hard time getting
turned around. I can't help but wonder where in hell some people say
the wind has no affect on performance. I guess they have never done any
ag work. I had a discussion with Barry Schiff re; clean blades and
their affect on performance. While I have enormous for him and his
career, I wish he could experience the difference in dirty blades/wings
in crop dusting vs clean/polished blades/wings. I think he'd rearrange
his thinking on that subject.
In the earliest discussion here I was accused of being too cavalier or
nonchalant about the dangers involved and poo pooed the damage I had
incurred while crop spraying/dusting. There is no doubt this is one of
the more dangerous aspects of flying in putting ourselves in the red
zone on every flight we make and requiring that we make zero mistakes
lest we end up in the emergency room and on the News At 9.
Even so, after 39 years of doing it, I still get a smile on my face
when the day goes right, the turns are like on rails, the spray pattern
is moving slowly downwind, there are no bumps and the engine is smooth,
the blades are smooth and there is no hop to anything....and the money
meter is going Ka Chingggg.....
Oh yessss.....ag flying is unique and satisfying in a particular way.
Rocky



  #10  
Old July 11th 05, 05:21 PM
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Frank
About 100 acres.....mostly pivots and 1/4 sections. A couple of small
fields but some big ones too like 160 clean runs. It is the easiest
spraying I've ever done! some wires on edges but I don't have to duck
under any of them. Have to hop over the sprinklers sosmetimes but is
the easy stuff. Got one pair joined and one mile runs.... gravy
dripping off my chin at 5 gpa!
I looked at the company WASP's a few days ago and they sure do look
nice. Perhaps I'll get some time in them before I'm done here. they
haul 100 ga every load. I've just got a tired engine is all I think.
I'm doing great with 80 but more like 65 daily.
Blown out just now after daylight loads to beat the wind and only got
215 done.
Cheers
Rocky
p.s. did you ever use the trick of SaranWrap on the leading edges and
you can just peel off a layer at the end of the day for a clean edge?
Have not tried it on rotor.

 




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