Posted: 9/1/2016 8:14:29 PM EDT
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For those of you who don't make it over to the photography forum, thought I'd post up some shots from this year's spray project.
I need to spend more time with the Hiller; got plenty of the 500C.  DSC_5088-Ko Turn Crop by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5197-500C by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5297-Spray by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5457-Short Final2 by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5488-Hiller Perspective-Chop by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5593-Hughes Perspective by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5714-Go Richie by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6004-Rush Hour by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6580-Richie Attitude by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6594-Richie Spray by FredMan, on Flickr
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Just a few more...
 DSC_6395-Tail Rotor_1-5000s by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6310-Waiting For Fuel by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6334-Pairs Competition1 by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5341-Rotor Head by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5027-Morning Rotorhead by FredMan, on Flickr
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Quoted:
how many years until the job is taken over by drones? That's actually an interesting question. There's a few firms experimenting with drones. One, out on the west coast, has developed a drone with an airgun that shoots what amounts to paintballs loaded with seed and fertilizer for reforestation. They say that's cheaper and better than hiring a traditional planting crew to plant seedlings, particularly in rough terrain. I'm not convinced, but my firm's Seattle office is trying it out on a few sites this coming season. Drones are being used pretty extensively for local imagery right now, not to mention rural real estate sales. I think from a spray standpoint, until they get a drone that can reliably haul an 800-1,000 lb chemical payload, deliver it accurately, maintain safety requirements, AND be price competitive (helo application rates run from $35-$40/acre, plus herbicide cost and overhead), we'll stick with on-board pilots. You pretty much need the lift capacity of a traditional ship for those kinds of payloads, you'll have essentially the same ground crew requirements, so why not use a traditional whirly bird? |
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Quoted:
1. Awesome pictures! 2. Oh my god, do they actually land the helicopter on that tiny little platform on top of the filler truck, or is that just a trick of the angle of that shot? Yes. The ones I have watched will hot re-fill and fly on. This pic is a few years old. 
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Quoted:
1. Awesome pictures! 2. Oh my god, do they actually land the helicopter on that tiny little platform on top of the filler truck, or is that just a trick of the angle of that shot? Only fools land on the ground :). Introduces all kinds of crud that'd we'd juts as soon avoid. On a good spray day the pilot might make 60-70 truck landings. Gratuitous evening load pic...  DSC_5860-Sunset Load by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_4806-Load by FredMan, on Flickr
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A few more from recent days...
 DSC_6834-Dirk Sunset Liftoff by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6897-Spray Pattern by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6848.-Dust Off Wide by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6861-Dust Off Zoom by FredMan, on Flickr
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 DSC_7104-Mountain Turn1 by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7070-Lost In The Hill by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7091-Mountain Swath by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7213-Sunset Swath1 by FredMan, on Flickr
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Quoted:
I've had the pleasure and privilege of seeing some aerial spraying. Two observations: 1. Y'all are freakin nuts. 2. Arsenal is some nasty stuff. Arsenal is pretty benign (toxicity-wsie, the acute LD50 (oral) is 5,000 mg/kg. Fun fact: The molecule that "is" arsenal, imazapyr, was originally developed as a new anti-histamine. They were working on a competitor for diphenhydramine and somehow, along the way, they discovered that is acted as a growth inhibitor/regulator. |
 DSC_7376-Parking Lot by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7437-Dust Pair On by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7466-Dust Pair Off by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7471-Turn Away by FredMan, on Flickr
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 DSC_7617-Last Load by FredMan, on Flickr
We finished the last tract this morning. 10,000 acres, started August 8 finished September 14. With time off for labor day it worked out to 33 spray days. Keeping in mind probably 3-4 of those spray days were 0 acre days (wind, rain) we overall averaged 300 acres per day. I like a 350 acre average, but I can live with 300. I still remember that day in 2008 when we got about 1,050 acres and the day in 2014 we got 1,200 acres. With one helicopter. |
 DSC_7270-BOT Fog LZ by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_7370-Dirk Sunset Silhouette2 by FredMan, on Flickr
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| They do allot of that around here both Ag and Forest Service, I have not yet seen any 500 series, but there are 2 Hillers, a Bell 47, actually two 47's one is still running the piston engine, and the other is a turbine conversion, and a 204 Huey. Mostly though it's 206 Jet Rangers. They keep pretty busy after the wildfires here reseeding, spraying for insect invasion, on the Ag side it's usually boron and other sprays that need to go on above the trees. Nice pictures, thank you. |
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They usually use the 500 for utility work; powerline spraying, aerial sawing, etc. AFAIC the Hiller is the workhorse for forestry spraying, reasonably fast, reasonably efficient, adequate payload. Personally I think the 500 is a bit much for everyday forestry work. They do give us some options for outlying tracts; the 500 can just fly there and back in an acceptable time whereas the Huller usually gets trailered for outlying tracts (we had one 100-acre tract that was 60 air miles and 97 ground miles from the next closest tract; with the Hiller it would be a 2.5 hour drive there and back, with the 500 the ground crew spent the time driving and the helo made a 45 minute flight (had to route around Roanoke airspace!). With multiple ground crews it got us back to work much quicker.
But I do love the rotor chop sound of a Hughes pulling Gs in an ag turn. |
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Quoted:
why are the pilots sitting in the left seat? For some reason all the spray crews I've worked with are left seaters. None have any military background, maybe that has something to do with it. I will say all the batch trucks are set up for taking off the left side of the truck and loading on the left side of the helo, maybe that has something to do with it. Here's a loading operation. 
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Just a few more I pulled from the archive.
 DSC_6730-Hiller Instruments by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6426-Spray Cloud by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_6265-Pair LZ Takeoff by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5572-Tail Monochrome by FredMan, on Flickr
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 DSC_6000-Evening Load by FredMan, on Flickr
 DSC_5931-Red Tips by FredMan, on Flickr
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