If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes....

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-09-07 05:42pm

I never would have believed it!

Some lunatic does his cropdusting from an airplane locally.

IN THE DARK!

He starts about 3:00 am, it's pitch dark and there are power lines ALL over the godamned place! He has lights on his plane, but they hardly seem like enough. Not much better than a car's headlights.

Does anyone no why this maniac is doing this? Could it be that whatever it is he's spraying on the crop(cotton, I think) is light/heat sensitve when wet and needs to be laid down before sunrise so it can dry?

Without info, all I can do is watch him go, and wonder.....

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-09-07 06:06pm

He's human and obviously a few olives short of a pizza.

Darwin award material I'd say.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-09-07 06:17pm

Insecticides and herbicides are insensitive to sunlight for the period in which they're effective, and as for drying before sunrise, unnecessary. The guy's crazy.

A better question would be, "who" is in that field?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2003-09-07 06:20pm

Clearly a member of Al-Qaeda, he should be sent to Cuba.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-07 06:39pm

Sure is not actually an AN-2 dropping in Cuban special ops?

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-09-07 06:44pm

Cuba has SpecOps?

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-09-07 06:46pm

Probably just some daredevil that knows the route by heart.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-09-07 06:47pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:Sure is not actually an AN-2 dropping in Cuban special ops?

Aw mah gawd! They're after the cotton! RUN!

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-09-07 06:50pm

Thinking about it a little, maybe it's because those damned greenhouse canopies on those little cropdusters are unbearably hot when it's 100 plus degrees outside? Opening the canopy to keep cool in flight while spraying insectiside could have ill-effects on the pilot, to say the least...

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-09-07 06:54pm

Frank Hipper wrote:Thinking about it a little, maybe it's because those damned greenhouse canopies on those little cropdusters are unbearably hot when it's 100 plus degrees outside? Opening the canopy to keep cool in flight while spraying insectiside could have ill-effects on the pilot, to say the least...

I was thinking about that, while most biplane dusters have open cockpits the monoplanes types are almost always enclosed. The pilot doesnt really need to worry about the chemicals, the planes speed+gravity=safety.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2003-09-07 06:59pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:Clearly a member of Al-Qaeda, he should be sent to Cuba.

Is it a biplane? Cause if it's slow enought it might not be detected by modern radar (thus why he practices in the night, where only radar would be used). Attach 1 or 2 machine guns, and you've got a ground attack aircraft.

Clearly the terrorists intend to attack America with this evil Cropdusting swarm.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-09-07 07:30pm

Probably has been cropdusting the same area for the last 30 or 40 years and just knows it by heart, or has a GPS with the lines marked out on it.

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » 2003-09-07 07:41pm

Got drunk, decided he had to dust RIGHT NOW.

or

Insomniac knows his fields and decided to get some work done if he was going to be up anyway.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-09-07 08:50pm

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:
Gil Hamilton wrote:Clearly a member of Al-Qaeda, he should be sent to Cuba.
Is it a biplane? Cause if it's slow enought it might not be detected by modern radar (thus why he practices in the night, where only radar would be used). Attach 1 or 2 machine guns, and you've got a ground attack aircraft.

Clearly the terrorists intend to attack America with this evil Cropdusting swarm.

Why not just fill a cropduster with sarin and fly over a big city?

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2003-09-07 09:12pm

That would be by far the most effective way to kill lot's of people. I have no idea why terrorists haven't tried it. I heard about a briefcase of sarin (or ricin maybe) in Japan on a railway that killed a bunch of people, it sounds like nasty stuff.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-07 09:40pm

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:That would be by far the most effective way to kill lot's of people. I have no idea why terrorists haven't tried it. I heard about a briefcase of sarin (or ricin maybe) in Japan on a railway that killed a bunch of people, it sounds like nasty stuff.

One word: dispersion.

Even nerve gas doesn't do much when it's in miniscule concentrations.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-09-07 10:00pm

Darth Wong wrote:
StormTrooperTR889 wrote:That would be by far the most effective way to kill lot's of people. I have no idea why terrorists haven't tried it. I heard about a briefcase of sarin (or ricin maybe) in Japan on a railway that killed a bunch of people, it sounds like nasty stuff.
One word: dispersion.

Even nerve gas doesn't do much when it's in miniscule concentrations.

One milligram of sarin can kill in about 20 seconds. A five second exposure is lethal.

I would have suggested VX, but sarin is much easier to obtain. Tabun is even easier, but far less lethal.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-09-07 10:58pm

Wasn't "The Rock" With Sean Connery about someone stealing missiles with VX gas and threatening to wipe out San Francisco with them? Would that have worked?

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-09-08 01:55am

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:Wasn't "The Rock" With Sean Connery about someone stealing missiles with VX gas and threatening to wipe out San Francisco with them? Would that have worked?

I don't really think it would kill as many as the movie suggested, but depending on the time of year, a good constant ammount of wind could disperse enough of it to kill a lot of people. Now if it decided to rain.....I don't think it would be near as bad as the rain would collect a fair bit of it out of the air and send it to the ground. Of course, that would also present a problem if it ever got into the water table.

All in all, VX is some nasty shit that you just don't want to fuck with.