Home»All Photographs»Travel»Mississippi»Crop Duster - Tunica, MS

Gambling may be the money crop in Tunica, MS but cotton is still the agricultural crop. You can’t travel far without seeing a casino or a cotton field. On the day I was in Tunica, I saw 2 or 3 crop dusting planes in the air at the same time. I parked on the edge of the cotton field where the crop duster flew directly overhead, 5 feet off the ground, at dusting speed - about 180 mph. I shot a long lens at between 300mm and 500mm at a fast shutter speed. My Nikon D850 locked focus quickly and continuous focus held it when the target was moving at 180 mph. The pilot was daring and probably never heard of downdraft. He swooped down to his dusting altitude and turned the spray on just at the edge of the field. Crop dusters spray upwind to limit the amount of spray they inhale. As close as I was to the action, I had no sense that I was being dusted.
This Air Tractor 602, owned by Tunica Air, is a popular crop dusting plane.