Fly-In Doesn't Fail Because of Fog
OLNEY, TX (KAUZ) - Low lying fog Thursday morning kept agriculture pilots grounded in Olney.
But it didn't stop research at the Texas Fly-In at the Air Tractor plant in Young County.
"We're here to help them test the airplanes that come in from surrounding communities to ensure that they're doing the best job possible for our farmers and producers that they serve," Dr. Dennis Gardisser, President of WRK of Arkansas said.
Dr. Gardisser analyzes the spray patterns from these planes and then offers advice to pilots on possible improvements.
"It's very valuable during the season so you know what your settings are in your airplane and you can adjust them to what poundage or spray that you're putting out," Brenda Watts, President of the National Agriculture Aviation Association said.
Watts who is an air tractor business owner herself said the benefits of these exercises trickle down all the way to the consumers.
"It benefits the farmer and therefore, it benefits the rest of us because of food that we can eat," Watts said.
What these planes are dropping varies.
"They're applying pest control products basically, sometimes nutrients but typically they're coming over a crop to control pest which might be a weed, be an insect or might be a fungal plant pathogen of some type," Dr. Gardisser said.
Planes were able to take to the skies Thursday afternoon after the weather cleared up. Testing was also done on Wednesday and officials said while tweaking was needed, the overall results were a mission accomplished.
This is the second year Air Tractor of Olney and Transland of Wichita Falls have teamed up to host this event. Organizers tell me this is something they plan on keeping up in the future.
Samantha Forester, Newschannel 6
Copyright 2016 KAUZ News All Rights Reserved
