While in the Palouse for landscape photos the ways of modern agriculture provided some action shots.
Posted by Richard Hahn on June 23, 2012 at 7:38 PM
Jim, this is a neat picture. The plane looks like it was a stunt plane that was converted for spraying, any idea if that is the case? Safe presumption that you took this from a plane? I like thwe way that the plane is in focus with everything else out of focus.
Hi Rich,
From a conversation I had with a farmer in the area these are planes that are specially designed for this purpose. The bi-wing provides lots of lift and manuverability, the radial engine provides lots of power, and while it is hard to tell the tank holding what ever is being spread is just in front of the pilot. This keeps the largest wieght at about the center of lift for the two wings. Most vintage bi-planes I have seen had much larger wings which would give lots of lift but would cut down on the manuverability.
If you look at this image carefully you will see the shadow of the plane on the ground below it. I took this image from about 30 yards off the flight path as the plane passed me. I was standing on a 4 foot rise next to a road and I am 6' 1" in hieght. The plane is in focus because I was using the mode 2 of the image stabilization on the Canon 70 - 200 mm lens and tracking the plane by hand as it came down the field and passed my vantage point. I estimatate plane was flying at about 100 MPH as it made the pass to spray. That with the shadow should give you a sense of how low these pilots fly to accomplish their job! I would estimate their altitude at about 12 - 15' above the ground. Not a job for a pilot with slow reflexes!
Discussion
2 repliesFrom a conversation I had with a farmer in the area these are planes that are specially designed for this purpose. The bi-wing provides lots of lift and manuverability, the radial engine provides lots of power, and while it is hard to tell the tank holding what ever is being spread is just in front of the pilot. This keeps the largest wieght at about the center of lift for the two wings. Most vintage bi-planes I have seen had much larger wings which would give lots of lift but would cut down on the manuverability.
If you look at this image carefully you will see the shadow of the plane on the ground below it. I took this image from about 30 yards off the flight path as the plane passed me. I was standing on a 4 foot rise next to a road and I am 6' 1" in hieght. The plane is in focus because I was using the mode 2 of the image stabilization on the Canon 70 - 200 mm lens and tracking the plane by hand as it came down the field and passed my vantage point. I estimatate plane was flying at about 100 MPH as it made the pass to spray. That with the shadow should give you a sense of how low these pilots fly to accomplish their job! I would estimate their altitude at about 12 - 15' above the ground. Not a job for a pilot with slow reflexes!