Agricultural aircraft

An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles they are referred to as "crop dusters" or "top dressers". Agricultural aircraft are also used for hydroseeding. The most common agricultural aircraft are fixed-wing, such as the Air Tractor, Cessna Ag-wagon, Gippsland GA200, Grumman Ag Cat, PZL-106 KRUK, M-18 Dromader, PAC Fletcher, Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave, Embraer EMB 202 Ipanema, and Rockwell Thrush Commander but helicopters are also used. Generally agricultural aircraft have piston or turboprop engines. The only known exception is the Polish PZL M-15 Belphegor which has a jet engine. Crop dusting with insecticides began in the 1920s in the United States. The first widely used agricultural aircraft were converted war-surplus biplanes, such as the De Havilland Tiger Moth and Stearman. After more effective insecticides and fungicides were developed in the 1940s, and aerial topdressing was developed by government research in New Zealand, purpose-built agricultural fixed-wing aircraft became common. In the US and Europe, agricultural aircraft are typically small, simple, and rugged. Most have spraying systems attached to the trailing edges of their wings, and pumps are usually driven by wind turbines. In places where farms are larger, such as New Zealand, Australia, the former Warsaw Pact nations and parts of the developing world, larger and more powerful aircraft have been used, including turboprop powered aircraft such as the PAC Cresco, twin engined types such as the Lockheed Lodestar and the WSK-Mielec M-15 Belphegor – a turbofan-powered biplane. All tend to be of simple, rugged STOL design. Sometimes a ram air turbine is used as an auxiliary power source for the pumping machinery instead of taking power directly from the engine (because this can be installed without any modifications of the airplane's mechanical systems).