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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0041.PDF
AGRICULTURAL AVIATION CONVENTION Turbine and amphibious versions of the Polish PZL M-18 Dromader, left, are being developed. A larger version, the M-24, is planned. Schweizer has introduced the Ag-Cat Super 450B, right, with 450 h.p. engine and 325 US gal hopper design an airframe to an engine". The engine to which Predator has been designed is the 400 h.p. Lycoming 10- 720, although this unit might not be adopted for production. He sees too many examples of "bigger hoppers and bigger engines chasing each other" without reference to empty weight. "Every pound will cost you $100 for each 500hr you fly annually". Predator 480 has completed some 40hr of flight testing at Mojave, California. The current period is essentially one of refinement. Several flights a week have taken place since the aircraft flew four months ago. After aerodynamic work has been completed, Record plan to take Predator 480 to the San Joaquim Valley, where he will work on the dispersal system. Not that he is about to say exactly what form that it will take; suffice it to say that "we do not intend to suffer the drag penalties of a [conventional] boom." Record says that Predator 480 is only the third "tractor canard" to fly. The first such aircraft had crashed; the second was Burt Rutan's Grizzly, which flew in 1982. Some of the experience with Grizzly has gone into Predator, says Record. He lists three elements as of vital importance in ag air craft design and performance: crashworthiness, economics, and reliability. For increased safety, the 90gal (US) fuel capacity in Predator is divided between two tanks which are placed midway along each wing. This pro vides space between the fuel and the cockpit in a crash. On the economic front, Record suggests that Predator 480 will offer a 20-30 per cent reduction in application costs. And reliability? "I've got tired of landing away from the airport". Of the changes which are likely to come out of the test programme, Record says: "Right now there is nothing that we want to change that is technologically new ground". He doesn't expect the 58ft 9jin wing span or 500gal (US) hopper capacity to change. No precise forecast is made publicly for certification of the new agricultural aircraft. After testing is complete, the next job will be to make the design producible. Record will not be drawn on the investment which has gone into the project. The aircraft is being produced and tested "on a spartan budget, but it is not being done by a com mittee", Record emphasises. Droplets "Scientists usually go for the lowest [permissible pesticide] limit, as they don't know what is safe."—Lori Johnston (California Dept of Food and Agriculture). "You won't have been too successful in finding someone who wants to buy your used, diluted pesticide. . . We have to deal with perceived prob lems. Did you hear about the old lady who stopped listening to her radio after she heard that they now broadcast herbicide?"—Orlo Ehart (Wisconsin Dept of Agricul ture, Trade, and Consumer Protection). "Many people know only enough about pesticides to doubt that you know what you are doing."—L. O. Nelson (Indiana State Chem ist Office pesticide adminis trator). Aero Mod General has developed the Super Ag Max, left. The fuselage has been lengthened 33in, the 45ft-span wings are new, and the hopper holds 430 US gal. Latest aircraft from Leland Snow's Air Tractor is the AT500, right, produced to meet a demand for a bigger hopper FLIGHT International, 5 January 1985 39
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