Unusual sighting

[Mark-Mi]

Saw this on my way home from town today. Drove right under it while it was refilling.
Do any of you YTers know what brand of helicopter this is? Or know any specifications about it.

 

[37 chief]

Now that is something you don't see every day, at least where I live. I am studying for my 5 year Calif. DMV written test. One of the questions should be: If you come across a helicopter refilling with the tail rotor hanging over the road, you should stop, speed past, or turn around. My answer would be, speed past. Stan

 

[paul]

Back in the late 70s my neighbor grew peas, a common crop 20 miles away but not on my back yard, our ground is too wet, Clay, and rolling they dont grow even here. Anyhow, they had a helicopter spray them, which was a little unusual back then to see a chopper spraying.

We had an oats field across the road and the oats was harvested. So the chopper landed in our stubble to reload.

Nothing grew in a 25 square foot area for 2 years where they reloaded, they must have been sloppy with their couplings and dribbling.

That would be unusual to come across hanging over the lane!

Paul

 

[4play]

Looks like the Bell 206 Jet Ranger, variant unknown. They have been around since the early/mid 60's, production ended in 2017. It is the most popular helicopter model in the sky, most people are probably familiar with them as news helicopters.

I noticed the DOH on the side, New York Dept of Health. I'm not sure what all the DOH needs a helicopter for but they did spray for skeeters at one time. It makes sense to see it spraying for someone else.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Thanks for the picture.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Looks like a Bell 206L LongRanger, of which there are many subvariants. Although the fuselage is partially obscured, it has the two-bladed rotor common to most Bell helicopters.
Bell 206

 

[john in la]

This has my curiosity working overtime.

So you guys are saying this is a helicopter used to spray a chemical like a crop duster.

I just cant understand why the helicopter would be so far away from an airport while spraying a area so large on a regular basis that they could make a special built tractor trailer rig cost effective.

And what could the department of health be possibly spraying in the daytime.

 

[blueridge]

There is a Farm with a Runway near me here in Central In. and they have spray planes land and refill there, they also have a Helicopter and have a trailer with tanks pulled by a pickup. The tank trailer has a rack on top where Chopper lands to refill, I have saw it sitting on the trailer as a drive by, see it flying over my house sometimes, or in nearby fields spraying. Gene

 

[Mark-Mi]

I just cant understand why the helicopter would be so far away from an airport?
Shorten the dead head time for fast turn around. It is all about home many acres you can spray in a day.
Plus you always have your custom built mixing and loading set up with you.

I can not say 100 percent sure but most likely spraying a fungicide on corn. This is shown to increase yields enough to pay for the one time fungicide spray and put some money in your pocket.

This rig does not spray this area on a regular basis. Most likely travels a multi state area.

 

[Mark-Mi]

Definitely burned jet fuel. Sure stunk when I drove under it.

 

[John T]

While Ive seen a bunch of light aircraft spray crops, never a helicopter. Not sure if we have any helicopter pilots on here familiar with that make or model ???? if so they might be able to answer your question. As far as identifying it, google or some app might help identify something based on a picture (I think my grandkids have used some sort of an app that does that ??) give that a try maybe, let google be your friend lol. Sorry I have no idea nor any specifications you asked for, that's above my pay grade ANY HELICOPTER PILOTS HERE ???

John T NOT a pilot Have a great Sunday everyone

 

[Stephen Newell]

Why is it parked on the truck though?

 

[bmack95hd]

Yep, Bell 206 Ranger whatever version. While in the NAVY I was in a squadron of the Jet Ranger version, HT8, Milton, FL. We had about 50 of them.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 04:09:24 07/23/23) This has my curiosity working overtime.

So you guys are saying this is a helicopter used to spray a chemical like a crop duster.

I just cant understand why the helicopter would be so far away from an airport while spraying a area so large on a regular basis that they could make a special built tractor trailer rig cost effective.

And what could the department of health be possibly spraying in the daytime.

So instead of flying 2 hours to the nearest airport, they fly to the edge of the field.

That "special tractor trailer" is a lot less sophisticated than you'd imagine.

 

[muleman51]

There are several rigs like that in our area, some smaller, some large, very efficient. Right now they are applying fungicide on corn. Later it may be fungicide or insecticide on beans. Canning companies use use them a lot. Nobody likes extra bugs in there veggies.

 

[caterpillar guy]

It's for spraying fields for what ever you want sprayed. From Fungicide to herbicide if you want to spend the money. The rack is for refilling with product. No deadheading like Mark said.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

No clue, fun to watch though.

Mike

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[ss55]

Besides shorter turn around times, airports might not want to deal with the potential of hazardous ag chemical spills on their property.

 

[old-9]

This might answer some questions. In the area I live in we have a branch of :Black Gold, potatoes, Red Gold ,tomatoes, as well as mint. Our local airport yesterday had 3 ag planes working, maybe more I did not see.The potatoes get sprayed every week,that's a lot of flight time. In addition to the public airport a grass airport Owned by Bluebird Ag LLC flies spray planes out of there. Bluebird ag also has at least one helicopter and a giant un-manned drone to spot spray small problem areas .
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[jw185]

Not sure about this one, but a young man here in western Kentucky has a similar rig set up for crop spraying. Seems to do a lot of business in my area.