The apps, developed by Brad Fritz and Clint Hoffmann, who are with the Areawide Pest Management Research Unit's
Aerial Application Technology group in College Station, will ensure that aerial and ground-based crews that spray pesticides have the best guidance possible before they spray.
Two truck-mounted ULV generators were dedicated to the populated areas surrounding each
aerial application. Ground ULV applications started on September 16, 1996, and continued through September 27, 1996.
Engineers in the unit's
aerial application technology section have spent decades studying the technology, methods, and effects of using crop dusters to spray crops such as corn and cotton with insecticides and other treatments.
Typically, ground applications requiring 100 gallons of water per acre would need much more adjuvant than an
aerial application requiring 5 gallons of water per acre.
If accuracy is required for variable rate
aerial application, it is important that GPS (georeferencing) error due to image distortions from varying airplane attitude (pitch and roll) be accounted for.
(2003),
aerial application was carried out by helicopter at a height of about 10 feet above cashew tree plantations.
He has conducted Louisiana's
Aerial Application Program for the past 10 years, providing pattern testing clinics and educational programs in drift minimization and pilot safety.
We found modest increases in risk associated with
aerial application of persistent pesticides on cranberry bogs and less persistent pesticides applied for tree pests or agriculture.
"One option for meeting this certification requirement to ensure fly-free fruit requires
aerial application of a malathion bait spray to groves every 7 to 10 days during harvest," he says.