Crop dusting basics
Aerial application explained: what it is and who does it
By the Sutter Butte Dusters team · · 8 min read
Aerial application (crop dusting) is the work of putting seed, fertilizer or crop protection products on land from an aircraft. In the northern Sacramento Valley, you see it every spring over the flooded rice checks. This post explains what the work includes, who may legally do it, and how a job runs from the first call to the last pass.
What is aerial application?
The federal rule for this work is 14 CFR Part 137. Part 137 calls the work an agricultural aircraft operation. The rule covers aircraft that dispense pesticides, plant nutrients, seed, or other substances for pest control or soil treatment. The same rule excludes the release of live insects. The FAA applies Part 137 to airplanes, helicopters and spray drones.
"Crop dusting" is the old name. It comes from the first jobs, when pilots spread dry dust. Today most loads are liquid, but dry work continues. We still spread dry fertilizer and rice seed from the hopper of an Ag Cat.
Agricultural aviation, or ag aviation, is the wider industry of operators, pilots, loaders, mechanics and aircraft makers. For more about the name, read what crop dusting is and how it works.
What does an aerial applicator put on a field?
An aerial applicator is the business, or the pilot, that does the application. Our work falls into three groups.
| Job | What goes on the field | Crops in our area | Usual months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seeding | Rice seed and cover-crop seed | Rice, and cover crops after harvest | April and May for rice |
| Crop protection | Herbicide, fungicide and insecticide | Rice, orchards and row crops | May to August |
| Fertilizer | Dry and liquid fertilizer, including top-dressing | Rice and other crops | April to July |
California growers seed most of their rice by air. Nationally, the work reaches well past cropland. The National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) lists these yearly totals from its 2019 survey:
- About 7.9 million acres of pasture and rangeland
- About 5.1 million acres of forest, where aircraft make nearly all forest protection applications
- About 4.8 million acres of mosquito and public health work
- About 3.8 million acres of cover crops seeded by air
Some operators also fly wildfire work. See our post on aerial cover crop seeding.
For aerial pesticide application, the aerial applicator does not choose the product or the rate. A licensed pest control adviser (PCA) writes the recommendation, and the product label sets the legal limits. We put that product on the right field, at the label rate, inside the treatment window. For the common product types, see what crop dusters spray.
Who does aerial application in California?
Several people share each job in California.
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| Grower | Farms the field, decides on the job, and gives the field location and timing |
| Pest control adviser (PCA) | Writes the recommendation for the product, rate and timing |
| Aerial applicator (the operator) | Holds the FAA certificate, plans the flight, and keeps the records |
| Pilot | Flies the passes and watches the wind, the obstacles and the swath |
| Loader and mechanic | Mixes and loads the product, and keeps the aircraft airworthy |
| County agricultural commissioner | Enforces pesticide use rules and issues permits for restricted materials |
| FAA and California DPR | Certify the operator and the pilots |
A restricted material is a pesticide that needs a county permit before use. Each application also needs a notice of intent to the commissioner before the flight. Our post on pesticide application rules in California covers these steps.
What licenses does an aerial applicator need?
In California, the FAA certifies the operator and the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) certifies each pilot.
The FAA operator certificate
The FAA issues an agricultural aircraft operator certificate under Part 137. A commercial operator needs at least one pilot with a commercial or airline transport pilot certificate. The operator also needs at least one airworthy aircraft equipped for the work.
The pilot passes a knowledge test and a skill test. The knowledge test covers safe pesticide handling, the effects of the chemicals on people and animals, and poisoning symptoms. The skill test includes short-field and soft-field takeoffs, swath runs, pullups and turnarounds. The pilot flies it at the aircraft's maximum certificated takeoff weight, or the special load weight if that is greater.
The operator keeps a record of each job for at least 12 months. The record shows the customer, the date, the material and quantity, and the pilot. Work over a congested area needs more: written approval from local officials, public notice and an FAA-approved plan. Our guide to FAA Part 137 for agricultural aircraft explains the full rule.
The California pilot certificate
DPR issues a Pest Control Aircraft Pilot Certificate at two levels: apprentice and journeyman. A manned applicant shows a valid FAA commercial pilot certificate and a current FAA medical certificate. An apprentice passes two exams with a score of 70 percent or higher. An apprentice flies only under the direct supervision of a journeyman.
To become a journeyman, the pilot holds the apprentice certificate for at least 1 year. The pilot also logs at least 150 hours in a fixed-wing aircraft, or 50 hours in other aircraft, within the past 2 years. Before any work, the pilot registers with the agricultural commissioner in each county where the pilot will fly. The requirements are in the pilot packet on DPR's licensing page.
Spray drone operators also need a Part 137 certificate, plus an FAA exemption and a remote pilot certificate. If you want to fly this work, read about crop duster pilot salary and crop dusting jobs.
How big is agricultural aviation in the United States?
The same NAAA survey describes the industry:
- About 1,560 ag aviation businesses in 45 states
- About 3,400 ag pilots: roughly 2,000 hired pilots and 1,400 owner-operators
- About 87 percent of operators who fly their own aircraft
- An average of 2.3 aircraft per business
- 84 percent fixed-wing aircraft and 16 percent helicopters
- 83 percent of fixed-wing aircraft and 71 percent of helicopters with turbine engines
- About 127 million acres of cropland treated each year, or about 28 percent of US cropland in production
NAAA also compares output. One Air Tractor AT-502B with a 60-foot swath can treat about 1,800 acres in a 12-hour day. A ground rig with a 90-foot boom treats about 450 acres in the same day. These are the trade group's own estimates.
Which aircraft do the work?
Most of the work uses purpose-built airplanes that handle well at low speed and turn tightly. We fly five Ag Cats and one Air Tractor 602 from our strip in Live Oak.
The AT-602 shows the size of a modern turbine ag plane. Air Tractor lists a 630-gallon hopper, a 1,050 shp turbine and a typical working speed of 145 mph. Helicopters fly some jobs. Spray drones carry much smaller loads, so they suit small or irregular blocks.
Compare them in crop duster planes, helicopter vs airplane for crop dusting and drone spraying cost per acre.
Where did crop dusting start?
The first airplane crop dusting took place on August 3, 1921, near Troy, Ohio. Lieutenant John A. Macready flew a modified Curtiss JN-4 Jenny over a 6-acre grove of catalpa trees. A side-mounted hopper held 100 pounds of powdered lead arsenate. The plane flew 20 to 35 feet above the trees. The FAA historian's account says the plane did in minutes what ground crews needed days to do.
After World War II, surplus military planes made the work affordable. By the early 1950s, over 5,000 aircraft were in agricultural use. Each sprayed 60 to 70 acres an hour, against about 100 acres a day for a tractor sprayer.
Converted planes crashed often, so Texas A&M built the AG-1, a plane designed for farm work, which first flew on December 1, 1950. Grumman flew the first Ag Cat prototype in 1957. Read the history of the Grumman Ag Cat for the story of our main aircraft.
How does an aerial application job work?
Use these steps with any operator.
- Get a written recommendation from your PCA.
- Send the field location: an address, an APN, or an FSA farm and tract number.
- Give the crop, the acres, the product, the rate and your timing.
Caution: Tell the operator about beehives, organic fields, homes and schools next to your block. They change how the pilot plans each pass.
- List the hazards you know, such as power lines, towers, wells and open water.
- Wait for the operator to map the field and confirm the flight time.
- Keep people and vehicles out of the field during the flight.
- Follow the restricted-entry interval on the label before workers go back in.
- Keep the application record with your other pesticide use records.
Power lines are a leading hazard. NAAA reports that power lines caused 13 percent of ag aviation accidents from 2009 to 2018. To pick an operator, read how to hire a crop duster. For price factors, see crop dusting cost per acre.
Is aerial pesticide application safe for neighbors?
Drift, the movement of spray away from the target field, is the main concern with any spray from the air. The pilot controls it with the droplet size, the release height, and the choice of when to fly. We check the wind before and during each job, and we wait if the wind is wrong. We also plan each flight around homes, schools, water and neighboring crops.
Part 137 lets a pilot fly below 500 feet, and closer than 500 feet to people and structures, only during the application. That exception applies only over areas that are not congested, and only if the flight creates no hazard on the ground. The European Union banned aerial spraying of pesticides under Article 9 of a 2009 directive, Directive 2009/128/EC, with limited exceptions that a member state may approve case by case. Read more in spray drift and aerial application and crop dusting near homes.
When is an airplane the right tool?
An airplane makes the most sense on flooded rice checks, wet ground, and large fields with a short treatment window. It also leaves no wheel tracks and causes no soil compaction. A ground rig can be the better choice on a small field next to sensitive areas. Our post on aerial spraying vs a ground rig compares the two.
Sutter Butte Dusters flies these jobs across Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Glenn and Colusa counties from our base at 4080 Clark Rd in Live Oak. We seed rice onto flooded checks, apply herbicide, fungicide, insecticide and fertilizer. See our aerial application services, or get a quote for your field.
Questions
An aerial applicator plans and flies the application of seed, fertilizer or crop protection products from an aircraft. The operator holds an FAA Part 137 certificate, maps the field, checks the wind and hazards, loads the product at the label rate, and keeps a record of each job for at least 12 months.
Crop dusting is the common name for one job: applying products to crops from the air. Agricultural aviation, or ag aviation, is the whole industry behind it, including operators, pilots, loaders, mechanics and aircraft makers. It also covers seeding, forest pest work, mosquito control and some wildfire work.
Yes. Aerial pesticide application is legal in California when the operator holds an FAA Part 137 certificate and each pilot holds a DPR Pest Control Aircraft Pilot Certificate. The product label, the PCA's recommendation and any county permit conditions set how, where and when the product goes on.
The National Agricultural Aviation Association estimates that aerial applicators treat about 127 million acres of US cropland each year, or about 28 percent of cropland in production. The figure comes from its 2019 industry survey. Aircraft also treat millions of acres of pasture, forest and mosquito habitat.