Had an airplane fly over yesterday.

[Gustav]

Its probably lame considering what you guys have seen, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

This pilot kept flying over our house like in the video for about thirty minutes and looked like he kept heading back to a nearby field. Of course by time I figured out how the freaking camera worked he was on his last pass over before he moved on elsewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3F-SwgXRw0

[SilverZ06]

crop dusting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRewzduJz4&feature=related

[Gustav]

I kind of figured that, just thought it was amazing as this was first time one of them has actually flown over the neighborhood like that.

Im trying to figure out how high in the air he was. I know he saw me and waved on one of his fly-overs.

[Maverick]

I heard an interesting engine sound the other week and it kept repeating. I finally went outside to look at it and saw it was a "M*A*S*H" chopper being used as a crop duster on a smallish sugar cane field next to the RV park here in New Iberia. It was fun watching him work the field and then do turns right over the RV park at about 150 AGL.

[rpm]

I'm surprised anyone would still be working a Bell-47. Those things are worth their weight in gold nowadays.

[saggs]

I'm surprised anyone would still be working a Bell-47. Those things are worth their weight in gold nowadays.

Not really, you can pick an old one up in decent shape much cheaper then a new R22 or Schweizer 300.

I know an operator who still operates several 47s, doing wild mustang round-ups for the BLM.  The 47s are great for that, only trouble is that it's getting more difficult and expensive to find parts.

Personally when it comes to small helicopters, (and having worked on both) I'd take a 47 over the much more popular Robbies any day.

[flight17]

I kind of figured that, just thought it was amazing as this was first time one of them has actually flown over the neighborhood like that.

Im trying to figure out how high in the air he was. I know he saw me and waved on one of his fly-overs.

maybe 100-300ft

[Babalonian]

I'm surprised anyone would still be working a Bell-47. Those things are worth their weight in gold nowadays.

Just a random guess, but there's maybe 1-2 dozen Bell-47s (or repros) in flying condition still at Van Nuys.

As has been mentioned though, they are in a gradual decline, likely because maintenance and parts is becoming a bigger/expensive issue.

[rpm]

I'm not sure when they stopped building them but figured they were reaching the end of the line. I looked it up and in 2011 there were 1068 registered in the US. That's a lot more than I expected to find. Got to ride in one a few times when barnstormers would show up at county fairs, ect. Fun little bird.