I was in the basement reloading yesterday when I heard what sounded like aircraft engines outside the house. I let it go the first time, but when it kept happening I went outside and got my own private airshow for about 30 minutes while this guy worked the fields on three sides of us.

I am on the second floor,
When I use the bino's ,
I am pretty much looking at him at eye level.

On the north and east side of the apt.'s


Dodging the wires/ poles is where it gets exciting.

Very common here in central Arkansas. They, in addition to fertilizer, use them to seed for rice. Thrush aircraft are also used

AF Special Operations is buying them.

“The aircraft will perform close air support, precision strike, armed intelligence, and surveillance and reconnaissance in austere and permissive environments...”

Complete article:

https://www.twz.com/air/at-802...-light-attack-future

https://802u.com/

Years ago I was driving between Lubbock & Midland TX.
Had one pop out over the highway & pull a pretty hard 'u-turn' [blanking on the proper aviation term] for his next pass.
Got to see it a couple times before I'd moved along too far to watch.

They are quite common in my area (northwest Ohio) I usually see a 5 gallon bucket strapped to the side of the plane to carry their balls in as I doubt they would fit in a gallon pail. They are a joy to watch and I have just pulled over on numerous occasions to observe. There’s a gal locally that does this also, no 5 gal bucket but if hers would probably be 10 gallon if she had balls. Between the wires and areas of woods, they are just amazing. Only place I’ve ever seen more was in Arkansas…

He was back out again tonight doing the fields on the other side of "town". He wasn't quite as close but I got to watch him while I was walking the dog, which was fun. It's amazing how close they get to the power lines !

Those are some awesome pics, thanks for sharing them with us!

They are fun to watch. I saw one up in the Texas Panhandle last summer on a driving trip. Spraying peanuts or cotton, probably. Maybe sunflowers.

Back in 2010 I was ferrying an airplane from California to Alabama and landed at this little airport in Olney Texas. Well damned if it wasn't the home of Air Tractor.

I love watching them work here in North Alabama.

I spent some time touring their factory in Olney a couple months ago, thought these might be of interest. It's an impressive operation.

The Air Tractor Fire Boss:

One of those Fire Bosses crashed a few weeks ago fighting the fires east of Helena. My friend who lives in East Helena said the pilot had just picked-up, stalled-out during the climb, and crashed into a cliff before coming to rest (or at least pieces) in the water. Pilot was a mother from Brazil in her 40s. I watched some Youtube videos shortly after and was impressed by the level of difficulty and tech involved.

There's an air tanker annex at the Hibbing, MN airport and there's usually a few yellow Fire Bosses parked there. Not this summer; it's been wet and the planes are gone to drier climes.

Balls! Big balls! Life span, not so much.

Andy, thanks for those factory pics that's very cool!

We saw a couple of them fly over the Bighorn Mountains in WY where we were camping the last couple of days, and I first I though it was kinda odd because there's no crops up there, but then I got a closer look and saw the pod underneath. Water bombers, which made sense as the area went under a burn ban while we were there. I imagine they'd work just as well in the capacity. No floats on the ones we saw like in Trapper's photos though.

I learned to fly at the airport where the Thrush factory is. It was originally Ayers Aviation before Bill Ayers bankrupted it. He was trying to pay the A&P employees minimum wage while complaining about not being able to get good employees.