Agricultural Helicopter Spraying Schools

Agricultural Helicopter Spraying Schools

Crop spraying from a helicopter is a niche that is growing in popularity and requires advanced skills. Pilots often have to take off and land on the back of a truck and perform dangerous maneuvers while the helicopter is heavily laden agricultural sprayer  with chemicals. They must learn safe handling of the chemicals and how to apply them for maximum effect. Agricultural helicopter pilots performing crop spraying also seed and fertilize from the air.
Bill's Flight School, North Dakota, U.S.A.
Bill's Flight School offers helicopter pilot training for students who wish to fly for pleasure. They also provide a helicopter agricultural sprayer crop spraying course on their Bell 47 helicopter for pilots holding a commercial helicopter pilot's license. The course consists of 10 hours of ground training, which includes working with hazardous materials and chemicals, and 10 hours of in-flight training, during which students learn to land on a small elevated platform, taking off and hovering when heavily laden and low-level flying while at gross weight.
Eagle Helicopters, New South Wales, Australia
Eagle Helicopters is one of only a few Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approved agricultural training schools in Australia. Before Eagle became a agricultural sprayer school, it offered services to the agricultural community. Eagle now offers training in chemical spraying for insect pests, disease and weed control, as well as aerial fertilizing and seeding. With an emphasis on safety, Eagle uses U12ET Soloy Hiller and Aerospatiale AS350B Squirrel helicopters.