When it comes to Aerial Application, the helicopter is the right tool for the job. There are a few very important factors when it comes to a high quality spray job.
First is the distance between the lifting surface (wing or rotorblade) and the spray boom. The further the boom is from the lifting surface the less turbulent the air the product exiting the nozzle experiences. Which results in significantly less drift and the product you paid for is going where it is supposed to.
Next is airspeed during application and the resultant wind shear the product experiences when exiting the spray nozzle. Higher speeds means more shear and smaller droplets. Which again results in your money either moving off target or evaporating before it can even hit the ground. We operate between 70-90mph while airplanes typically operate at around 130-170mph.
Finally is maneuverability of the aircraft. We can work as slow as 20mph and turn on a dime. This allows us to get into tighter spots or work fields with hills or elevation changes while still remaining close to the canopy of the crop. You will see increased coverage if your fields have obstacles, tight spaces or challenging terrain.
The helicopter clearly has the advantage across the board. You will see better canopy penetration, better spray deposition, and as a result, increased yields over an airplane.
Another advantage the helicopter has over the airplane is our ability to bring the airfield with us to the job in the form of a Nurse Truck. We do not need to fill an 800 gallon airplane with the same mix to stay profitable. Which allows us to be 100% custom applicators. Want to try one product on half the field and a different product on the other half? No problem!
The best part of loading off the truck is that you can both enjoy the airshow and verify you are getting the product and name brands you paid for. You can watch it get mixed and loaded into the aircraft and then enjoy watching it get applied to your field.
Maintenance Costs! A helicopter costs roughly twice as much to operate per hour compared to an airplane. You'll notice we don't charge twice as much though! Typically we are 1-3 dollars more per acre versus an airplane depending on the area.
We're told often by new customers switching from an airplane that they visibly see the difference in the spray job by both bug kill and then later in uniformity of the fungicide application on the yield map when it goes through the combine. Better kill and more uniform fungicide application equals higher yields. If the helicopter is $2 more per acre and you see 1-5 bushel more per acre by using the helicopter, even at $3 corn that's more money in your pocket vs an airplane.
Not long! We take great pride in our ability to get your fields sprayed in your scheduled time frame and not whenever we can get to them. A helicopter is very logistically flexible, and our ability to load on site from a truck means we stay very productive. With us you will not have the typical experience we hear so often about waiting 7-10 days in line and hoping that your field gets sprayed before its too late.
We can spray thousands of acres per day. We're capable of spraying your entire farm, big or small, so that you can see the benefits of the helicopter across all your acres. We get asked this a lot and it seems that this misconception was started by CO-OPs and operators offering both helicopters and airplanes in an attempt to deter growers from wanting helicopters on their big fields so the airplanes can fly more acres. And because airplanes are only half the cost to operate, make them more money.
We've been in operation for 28 years! We are the longest operating helicopter applicators in Nebraska. We've learned what works and what doesn't and have dialed our operation into delivering peak quality and efficiency in a timely manner.
Please reach out with whatever questions you have. We're happy to help!
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