Air Tractor Tankers

[SoCalBob]

Corona Municipal Airport is the base of operations for six Air Tractor single-engine turboprop tanker aircraft engaged in a month-long, $5 million US Forest Service project to reseed rugged mountainous areas that were burned in the Santiago fire last October.

The six planes, each carrying an 800-gallon payload, are using precise, predetermined GPS coordinates to spray up to 200 loads per day of hydromulch on burned areas located above housing developments and highways for erosion abatement. The rainy season is now upon us, and mudslides in some of these areas could be devastating to homes in their paths.

The aircraft are owned by Aero Tech and based in New Mexico. They are normally used for firefighting and the contract pilots are veteran crop duster jockeys who come from all over the United States. Extremely low-level drops are being made on very steep slopes of up to 50 degrees. One pilot, a master of understatement, described the terrain as "interesting." Another characterized the mission as "challenging, but lots of fun."

Here are some shots I took of these high-tech tankers over several days at the airport. Taken with a D80 and Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 and Nikon 70-300VR lenses. Post processed using Capture NX.

1. Air Tractor aerial tanker with hydromulch mixing and pumping station in the background.

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2. Five of the six tankers, quite an impressive lineup.

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3. A glimpse into the cockpit shows the large GPS display and some really sophisticated avionics.

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4. Landing to take on another 800 gallon load.

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5. Loading up includes free windshield cleaning and a pressure wash to remove hydromulch residue to reduce drag.

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6. Air space and the tarmac area at the normally bucolic Corona airport gets a little bit crowded when this project is in full swing.

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Thanks for looking, and CC is always appreciated.

 

[alexf]

Nice shots. Never seen one up-close. We use them in Florida for agri spraying.

 

[tgrayfarms]

Cool Shots, Thanks for Sharing

 

[PGB]

Wonderful set Bob. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[joepilot]

Heavy duty load toters nice shots love the last pic with the V-tail (doctor killer) in the prop arc

 

[SoCalBob]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Alex -- I'd only seen them before on TV news footage doing drops on wildfires, and I never realized how big and high-tech they are until seeing one up close. Yes, they were originally designed and built for agri spraying, but when somebody says "crop duster" most people think of a plane that's a lot smaller and less sophisticated than these Air Tractors. Truly impressive airplanes!

tgrayfarms and Patrick -- Thanks for looking and commenting. The beauty of the small, uncontrolled (no tower or ATC) Corona Airport is it's virtually unrestricted access to the tarmac, ramp and runway areas that would be completely out of bounds to a casual photographer at a larger airport. The #3 photo above showing the cockpit was taken with the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 at 36mm, that's how close I was standing to the plane.

joepilot -- "Heavy duty load toters" indeed. And I'm sure you'll appreciate the fact that when they're fully loaded they use all but the last few hundred feet of the 3200 ft. runway for takeoff since that 800-gallon payload adds about 3,000 lbs. to the gross weight of the aircraft.

And yes, I was really pleased to get that #6 grab shot with the Bonanza in the prop arc. I have to admit I didn't plan it that way, but once in awhile the photography gods do smile on me. Call me greedy for better luck, but I'd actually prefer to have another one of the tankers where the V-tail is in the picture. That's why I'll be going back to shoot more throughout the month while this project is continuing. :smile:

 

[vinman]

I always wanted to fly a Thrush! Something about watching those guys dive under power lines and climb out nearly vertical. Almost like watching A10s.