Crop dusting test

When most people think crop dusting, yellow airplanes buzzing low over rice fields come to mind, but those aren’t the only craft used for taking care of agriculture crops.
Mike Satterfield of Cane Helicopter Services in Franklin said, “I like helicopters better than I like airplanes. It’s what I learned to fly in. I spray tighter stuff, like 2- and 7-acre sugarcane fields.”
Satterfield was one of six pilots who attended Wednesday’s agriculture aviation fly-in clinic Wednesday at the Jennings Airport. The event was part of Operation SAFE — Self-regulation Application and Flight Efficiency — which is backed by the National Agricultural Aviation Association. During the clinic, pilots from across south Louisiana tested their application equipment for accuracy and efficiency when applying agricultural products.
The fly-in was sponsored by the Louisiana Agricultural Aviation Association, and staff from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Aviation Administration were assisting at the clinic.
Two of the optional clinics are hosted each year, one in south Louisiana and another in north Louisiana.
During the clinic, pilots did both wet and dry testing, first with their spray booms and then with dry spreaders.
For wet testing, small pieces of paper were mounted on rods in a pattern on the ground, and a string was also hung across the area and measured with a fluorometer. Pilots then flew over the spread, spraying water with red dye over the arrangement. The string and paper were analyzed to determine the pattern and distribution of liquid and to see if the pattern was consistent.
Dry testing was done with small hoppers strategically arranged on the ground, and pilots flew over the arrangement spreading seed. The amount of seed in each hopper was then measured.
Marty Pousson, a program coordinator of pesticide certification and training for the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said, “At these aerial calibration clinics, we are able to analyze data in real time. This is a chance for aerial applicators to provide accurate pesticide applications for clients.”
Satterfield made his pass over the wet test set up and landed to see what the results were.
Kim Pope Brown, pesticide safety education coordinator with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, said, “He needs to make some nozzle adjustments, and make the spray more uniform across the boom. It’s too fine of a spray. We need to reduce the fine drops and improve uniformity. The spray is too heavy in the middle, too.”
According to Federal Aviation Administration numbers for 2013, agriculture pilots in the United States spent a combined total of 1,013,954 hours in the air, up from 955,850 in 2012. That same year, there were 3,634 aerial application aircraft surveyed by the FAA, up from 3,606 in 2012.
According to information from the Louisiana Agricultural Aviation Association, there are about 3,300 aerial application companies in the country, and one American farm feeds more than 80 people.