When I first saw the helicopter it was twisting about just a short distance from the highway. I feared I was about to see a crash. But the helicopter completed the twisting manoeuvre, flattened out and disappeared in a white cloud. It was a crop duster.
I've learned that the small fields in the area, filled with obstacles and surrounded by busy highways and suburban home are best served by helicopter crop dusters. For dusting big, open fields, the airplane excels but not here.
Helicopters are more expensive to operate and maintain than airplanes. Helicopters carry smaller payloads and fly at slower airspeeds than the fixed wind competition. But an experienced helicopter pilot can completely dust a small field very efficiently. One of the efficiencies is the the pilot's skill at smartly flipping his aircraft around at the end of field and making the next pass almost immediately.
The pilot I saw seemed to be very efficient.
1 comment:
I didn't know choppers did that.
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