Crop duster ride along

Takes a lot of experience to be safe doing this, I think they lose them at a fairly high rate

I remember seeing the old biplane crop Dusters as a kid in Blythe, CA in the late 1950s and early 1960s, long before any of the current specific built airplanes designed to be crop dusters were even in existence, dust and spray the large fields down there
That was long before OSHA and many of the pilots and ground folks got sick and died from the chemical back then as well as the pilots and field flagman getting hurt when the planes would break in flight and crash due to pilot error or mechanical malfunctions and failures: whiney:

I thought it was going to be a video ride-along from Roadkill in their Duster

Cool video

I watched a guy west of clark SD doing a field actually fly under some higher power lines. I bet you heard him clank when he walked.

There are five or six based at my lil community airport and I have not heard of a crash or issue in over 20 years.

BUT one does think if this was like WW2 type fighting id like to have these guys on our side.

There was one out today I saw from the dog park but it was a far away field, when he was done he went right over us on his way home. Really cool old biplane

"HIGHER POWER LINES" that ain't diddly squat, around here the fly under lower power lines. This pilot crop dusts several times a season right in our backyard. I've watched the OP's video several times when it was first posted on his website. Love the real life sound of the plane as it flies over the house. He's about five feet above the crops most of the time when he's spraying, great fun watching him

did anybody get any video of the crop duster that did the field next to the nats last year?

I had my first flight in a Mooney at 14. Actually took the controls, albeit briefly. Flew some - my buddy was a retired AF jockey - until I was 23. Undertook making it legal, with probably 70 hours already in stick time. My official instructor was an Oklahoma duster. He taught me things about an airplane I still cannot believe they should do. Ag Cats are neat, but you haven't lived until you've dusted a few fields in a Stearman [biplane]. Open cockpit, radial engine. Permanent grin, once the mortal fear subsides!

BTW, the pilot in the above video is either very smooth or his turn and bank indicator is inop. Never saw it even juggle...

I live just West of Phoenix in the middle of what was farmland until about 5 years ago when they started building subdivisions and warehouses on every field around here. Anyway I used to see the crop dusters in fixed wing and helicopters all the time. Then all of a sudden you would never see them. I heard that now they are using GPS and spraying from the ground. Much cheaper I guess.

It was south of Blythe a few years ago as I was returning to AZ from Barona that l learned that they spray the fields at night. Now mind you at 2am after being up way to many hours those bright lights really mess with you in the distance luckily they were working a field right along the road I was on so I got to slow down and observe. Two pickups spotted at each end of the field with bright blue LED whips. Contacted a pilot friend the next day and he stated that was the best time and the visibility was actually quite good. No breeze at night and no bees.