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Posted

I've seen references made to cherry drying as an entry level job but I was wondering if it is as simple as it sounds. Can anyone tell me about it because I would imagine there's more to it then simply hovering over some fruit? Or maybe I've completely missed something?

Posted

It is pretty much just hover taxiing over fruit. Easy job. As the poster above said, watch the wind but most importantly you must watch for wires! You are very much down in the wire environment and your situational awareness must be kept at maximum.

 

The flying is easy though!

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Posted

Interesting responses. Maybe the flying is "easy", but it's under conditions that I don't imagine many 200-hr pilots have flown in. It's also not a lot of flying.

Posted

It is easy flying. Any 200 hour pilot could do it especially with a few pointers from some people that have done it. It's not much flying though as kodoz said. If you're not working with a company that has other stuff for you to do then expect to do a lot of sitting around for a few weeks. Even on a real rainy season don't expect more than 20hours for the month. 5-10 would be normal. You might not fly any.

Posted (edited)

Cherry-drying duty not the pits for copters; Wenatchee fleet helps

 

Pilot killed in Chelan cherry crop helicopter crash

 

Three crop flying accidents that same day (July 25, 11). All three were Sikorsky ships.

 

Wilton, IA Sikorsky UH-34D N3880J CEN11LA507 Fatal(1)

Chelan, WA SIKORSKY S-55B N5663 WPR11FA350 Fatal(1)

Brewster, WA SIKORSKY S-55B N855TC WPR11LA356 Nonfatal

Edited by iChris
Posted

It's pretty simple until the engine quits and you're 10ft above an orchard at night with lights that barely work and wires everywhere... :P

  • Like 1
Posted

I did it this summer up in Washington in a Hiiler 12d and not being able to use lft pedal much due to major loss of Engine and Rotor RPM is not the most fun thing to do on a regular basis.

Posted

It's pretty simple until the engine quits and you're 10ft above an orchard at night with lights that barely work and wires everywhere... :P

 

 

There's no reason to be drying at night (Especially with wires in the orchard and/or with just a land light). You won't have to worry about cherries splitting until the sun starts coming up. If the engine quits 10' up you should be able to walk away but the machine won't make it in the orchard. You are outside the h/v diagram in most helicopters. Either way anytime the engine quits it won't be fun.

  • Like 1
Posted

I did it this summer up in Washington in a Hiiler 12d and not being able to use lft pedal much due to major loss of Engine and Rotor RPM is not the most fun thing to do on a regular basis.

 

Were you flying ed kanes or where you up in orondo? Or mabyein some other hiller I don't know about?

Posted

There's no reason to be drying at night (Especially with wires in the orchard and/or with just a land light). You won't have to worry about cherries splitting until the sun starts coming up. If the engine quits 10' up you should be able to walk away but the machine won't make it in the orchard. You are outside the h/v diagram in most helicopters. Either way anytime the engine quits it won't be fun.

 

Oh I know there's no reason to dry them at night, just like there's no reason to dry them when it's still raining...but, if the cherry owner wants us in the air and is willing to pay, then pull pitch!! :D

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Posted

In 2007 I sponsored a convention hosted by a professor that did a paper on "cherry cracking" as he called it. The water gets in the stem of the cherry and when the sun hits it the cherry cracks and makes the produce useless so helicopters are used to blow the cherries to relieve them of the water. We had a helicopter nearby and my veteran pilot flat just didn't like the cherry drying. Limited flying with wires at every turn. When the weekend came he said he wanted to go back to boat photo and I thought that was best for all. More fun. More hours. No towers or wires over the water.

  • Like 1
Posted

In 2007 I sponsored a convention hosted by a professor that did a paper on "cherry cracking" as he called it. The water gets in the stem of the cherry and when the sun hits it the cherry cracks and makes the produce useless so helicopters are used to blow the cherries to relieve them of the water. We had a helicopter nearby and my veteran pilot flat just didn't like the cherry drying. Limited flying with wires at every turn. When the weekend came he said he wanted to go back to boat photo and I thought that was best for all. More fun. More hours. No towers or wires over the water.

 

I can't imagine how fun it would be to fly circles around boats.... Every... Single... Day.... Sure sounds.... Boring actually

  • Like 2
Posted

Work with any ag, utility, or flight school in the area of WA, OR, ID. It's not really a job worth chasing unless you're already there. You don't get very much flight time and it's not much money.

I've only experienced the Eastern WA part but I'm pretty sure there's cherries in CA also.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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