AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014 - 32

PILOT BRIEFING
|

BEHIND THE SCENES |

Making
Dusty
Fly
A worn-out Air Tractor becomes a star
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N
THE REAL-LIFE STORY of a wornout Air Tractor's transformation
into one of the most recognizable airplanes on the planet is
as unlikely as the fictional Dusty
Crophopper's movie quest for
air racing glory.
As Disney's animated movie
Planes was about to open at U.S.
theaters during summer 2013,
the actual Air Tractor that would
represent the movie character at
airshows and events around the
country was in pieces at an ag
strip in south Texas.
T h a t 's w h e n Ru s t y
Lindeman, owner of Rusty's
Flying Service, in D'Hanis, got a
call from Disney. The giant studio wanted an actual airplane
that matched Dusty in every
detail to appear at airshows in
the United States and Canada,
and the first one was at Jones
Beach in New York City in less
than six weeks.
Disney had already
approached Air Tractor, the
manufacturer in Olney, Texas,
but the company was too busy

32 | AOPA PILOT January 2014

and had a long backlog. Air
Tractor officials suggested
Lindeman, owner of a 10-airplane flying service.
Lindeman wanted to say
yes, but he couldn't afford to
take a working airplane out of
service for a summer movie promotion. A working turbine ag
airplane can bring in more than
$400,000 in revenue during a
season, and Disney wasn't paying anywhere close to that. Still,
Lindeman wanted to find a way.
"This was a chance to get
kids interested in flying," said
Lindeman, 60, a tall, weathered,
15,000-hour ag pilot. "It had the
potential to be positive for our
industry. If that was the case, it
was worth my time to do it. But
I couldn't afford to pull a working aircraft off the line."
Lindeman had a 1988 Air
Tractor fuselage with 12,000
ag hours in his hangar, and he
found a used set of wings and
tail surfaces. He knew he could
paint the airplane himself, so
that wouldn't be an issue.

"We can fix or build just
about anything at my place,"
he said. "My sheet metal boys
went to work on the fuselage.
We were working night and
day, but it quickly became obvious that we were going to need
some serious help to meet the
deadline. I called Air Tractor
and told them I was in trouble.
They said, 'No, you're not,' and
sent three of their mechanics
and all the parts we needed."
Lindeman and his crew
painted the airplane in Dusty
livery. "We only had a cartoon
drawing and some paint chip
numbers to go by, not detailed
painting instructions," he said.
"We repainted the number
seven on the side three times
when they wanted it bigger or
smaller. Every time I'd ask, 'You
realize this is paint we're talking about? It's not a sticker.'"
All spray equipment was
removed from the airplane,
and the hopper was converted
to carry additional fuel. The
engine is a Pratt & Whitney

PT6A-20 of 550 horsepower
from RT Turbines. The airplane is about 20 mph faster
than a standard 400A, and
its cruise speed is about 165
mph. "It's real light on the
controls and very responsive,"
Lindeman says.
The cockpit instrumentation is stripped to the
minimum, and Lindeman uses
a Garmin aera 510 for navigation. The standard "cool
seat" is installed, along with a
heater. "I typically fly at 10,000
or 11,000 feet when I'm going
cross-country because it's so
much more fuel efficient,"
Lindeman said.
His longest leg was a nonstop 6.4-hour trek from San
Diego to San Antonio, Texas. A
tailwind pushed groundspeeds
beyond 190 mph, speeds seldom seen in most ag airplanes.
Going to big events has
required Lindeman to fly in
busy airspace that ag pilots normally avoid. "We really don't
talk on the radio all that much,"
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014

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