Aerial Spraying By Drone

During the 2016 Precision Farming Expo, one of the highlights was the Yamaha RMAX helicopter drone used for precise spraying. It's an impressive remotely-piloted helicopters designed for agriculture purposes that has actually been in use now for over 20 years. The RMAX can deliver agricultural spraying more accurately with no soil compaction, crop damage and less spray drift. Ken Giles is a professor with UC Davis who has been working with the RMAX and spray applications in agriculture and he talked about flying the RMAX.

GILES: On our team we have two commercial pilots that have 7800 hours each and the operation of the RMAX, the operation of our flying is basically a commercial flight.

That means filing a flight plan just like any aircraft flight.

GILES: We look at the airspace we'll be operating in, what's our proximity to airports. That involves looking at the map, understanding where we can operate. We have to access the visibility. We have to notify air traffic control before we take off. For some locations you need to maintain constant communication with air traffic control.

He says that it is proving itself in its ability to deliver pesticides and other sprays in areas that might otherwise be difficult to get to and much more accurately than conventional aerial spraying.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.