AERIAL ADVENTURES my introduction to cherry drying Maria Langer Article aurthor Column CONTRIBUTOR Editorial Memo Note Read Reading Story write writer road. I pivoted with a pedal turn over the road, pleased that the wind wasn't going to fight me. Then I worked my way up the next row. At the top, I sidestepped to the next row, made a ° pedal turn, and began flying sideways down the row. When I was sure my tail would clear the rocky bluff, I completed my turn with another ° pedal turn and continued down the row. I repeated this process at the top and bottom of each row, noticing a few things as I flew: · There was enough wind to push the downwash I generated to the southeast side of the helicopter. So as I flew over one row, I was really drying the row next to it. · When I flew downhill, I flew higher and faster than when I flew uphill. Both made perfect sense, although the speed was sloppy flying. I had to fly higher on the way downhill to prevent my tail rotor from tangling in the trees uphill, behind me. · It was extremely difficult to see the rows of trees. They were big and bushy and, from the air, there wasn't much space between them. I had to rely on occasional views of the reflective material on the ground to remain lined up. · I was generating a lot more downwash than I expected. I may have been flying a little low. I was about a third of the way through the field when it started to rain. Keeping in mind that it was my job to dry the cherries, it didn't make much sense to dry them when it was still raining. So I decided to call it quits and work on the next block, Orchard C. I flew across the river. It was still raining there, but much lighter. As I did my reconnaissance around the field, the rain just about let up. I settled down over the first row of trees and started drying. This block was also on a slope, but a much gentler one. Its main obstacles included a tall fan in the middle of the field and a set of power lines that ran across the upriver side of the block. Down below were numerous white picking buckets like the -gallon plastic "cans" filled with paint that you might buy to paint your house. The helicopter's downwash sent most of them flying--in fact, if anyone had been down there, he would have been in serious danger. There were also some ladders, most of which were lying on the ground. The ladders must have been sturdy because my downwash did not knock over any of the ones that had been left standing. I went up and down the rows, being careful to avoid the wires at the end of each row when I made my turn. When I got to the rows closest to the fan tower, I simply sidestepped around it, double-drying a set of trees a bit farther away and pretty much avoiding the ones closest to the tower. But I think that my altitude--ten or so feet off the top of the trees--spread the downwash around enough to get most of the trees. I wasn't going to get fancy with the maneuvers I'd learned on my training flight in May--not on my first flight, anyway. I finished that field in about minutes, then climbed and crossed the river. Then I restarted the first block, Orchard M. In the meantime, I could hear other pilots on the radio. There was a group working out of Brewster Airport. One of them was flying a JetRanger; another was flying a big Sikorsky. They were working together, somehow. I didn't see them. Later, I did see a few Sikorskys hovering over fields in Brewster. They looked like big bugs hovering feet off the trees. I finished the main block of Orchard M and repositioned over a tiny block of younger trees farther down the hill. The trees were smaller and I found that I could dry two rows with one pass. I finished them off quickly and pulled up, heading toward my next orchard. I'd finished 18 acres (including the re-do) in a little more than an hour. Not exactly fast, but with ferry time factored in, it wasn't bad. My next orchard was full of surprises. Only acres in size, it was shaped like a quarter circle. The rounded edge was lined with seven very large pine trees. Where the trees ended, a set of power lines completed the border of the field. There was a house on one side and another house not far away from the rounded edge. I soon realized that I'd have an audience for my flight as I saw folks gathering along the deck of the second house. As I approached the orchard and got ready to settle down to tree top level, I saw two areas where the tree branches were going wild, as if Big Foot were walking among them. It turned out to be ground blowers that the grower was using to get the drying process started. The first time I got into the wake of one of these blowers, I got pushed around quite a bit, but when the grower realized I was overhead, he repositioned to one end of the orchard and shut down. Meanwhile, I'd begun drying. In this particular orchard, due to the shape of the block and the size of the trees, it was impossible to see the rows. I'd fly down what I thought was one row, make a complex turn at the end to avoid a big pine tree, and get ready to start up the next row only to realize that I'd either already done that row or I'd missed a bunch. Fortunately, my downwash was covering more than just one row at a pass and I had to satisfy myself (and the grower) with that. Near the end of the block, while making a difficult turn to avoid a big pine, I heard a loud noise and felt the helicopter shudder. At first, I thought my tail rotor had struck the tree and I shot forward to clear it. But the helicopter seemed to fly fine and, as I continued flying, I figured I must have just overflown one of the bird cannons. Erik, who had hired me for the summer, had warned that it would "scare the crap out of you the first time you hear one." He wasn't kidding. As I neared the very last row of the block, I realized that it was uncomfortably close to the power lines I'd noticed there before. Still a little frazzled by the loud noise I'd heard only minutes earlier, I decided I'd done enough. I lifted up and started toward my next orchard. I climbed to about feet to cruise to the next orchard and consulted my list of orchards to do. I knew I had only two left. That's when I realized that I'd forgotten to do the one near to the quarter circle. The only problem I had was that although I had a photo of the block, I'd never actually seen it in person from the air. We'd skipped it during my preview flight and I didn't have its coordinates. That meant I had to find it from the air while in flight, using the photo as my guide. It's not as easy as it sounds. There were orchard blocks all over the place below me. I had to get down low to look at the fruit on the trees. Most of them seemed to be apples and pears. When I finally found a cherry block, I assumed I had the right one and settled in over it. It was a block of young trees in a very easy layout with no obstructions. Nice and calming after the previous block. I noticed my phone ringing and reached out to answer it. It was Jim, another pilot who is based in Chelan. "Dan's on the phone with the grower. He says you're drying the wrong block." I found that hard to believe. How many cherry blocks were out there? "He says to go closer to the gray house." What followed were instructions relayed by phone to get me in the right place. It was a lot like the game kids play when they've hidden something and give instructions to find it. "You're getting warmer, it's to your right, now it's behind you." You get the idea. I finally homed in on it. The block was easy and went quickly. I was definitely able to dry two rows at once and that really sped things up. I was making up for my earlier slow flights. As I flew back and forth, I caught sight of the people JULY 2010 | AIRCRAFTOWNER ONLINE