It’s a bird, it’s a plane, nope, it’s a helicopter.
Access Helicopters had a three-man crew just east of Regina on Friday, using a helicopter to apply herbicide to a canola field.
“Trying to help them with their weed control on their mature canola and knock down any perennial weeds that are coming up in it,” Helicopter Pilot Nathan Gibson said.
Gibson is from New Zealand and he added that using a helicopter to spray fields is the best method there because of the uneven terrain.
During farming season in Saskatchewan, seeing a crop dusting plane going back-and-forth over a field is a common sight. Gibson said using a helicopter can be more effective.
“Our crop penetration is quite a bit better with the slower and lower heights that we operate at and predominately, we’re putting on more gallons an acre, so in turn, more coverage,” said Gibson.
It takes skill and precision to fly just a few feet off the ground, avoiding power lines, trees and other obstacles. Gibson said he’s living out a dream every day.
“Ten probably coming up on 11 years flying and it was just always something that I wanted to do really,” he said. “It’s that job you get up to and want to go do in the morning.”
It’s been a busy summer for Gibson and his crew, as they will spray about 80,000 acres by the end of the season and they can do up to 2,000 acres in a day.
“We can do a quarter in about an hour, hour-and-half,” he said.
