Pictured: Refueling and reloading chemical to spray for Cercospora leaf spot.

Growers need help each season in their fight against Cercospora leaf spot. While researchers help by hunting for new methods to control this fungal disease, spray pilots also help by applying fungicides to sugarbeet fields in a timely manner.

Area residents have grown used to seeing spray planes in action, but they seldom see spray helicopters at work. Mike Ley, helicopter pilot and mechanic, owns and operates Nitumo Helicopters, based in Choteau, MT. Ley, a Glendive native, will spend the rest of Cercospora season here in the MonDak region spraying area sugarbeet fields from his helicopter in efforts to control this disease.

Ley explains that helicopters have several advantages over spray planes. The first advantage involves helicopter maneuverability. Helicopters can get into tighter places, he remarks. Even on a big field, helicopters can get closer to the ground and can hold their altitude better.

He continues, Helicopters only fly half as fast as airplanes. I fly at 60 mph, and this makes it easier to maneuver around obstacles and easier to stay on course. The maneuverability and low-flying capabilities of helicopters also allows for excellent spray control. Helicopters give better spray control, Ley says. Helicopters also can fly in a little stronger wind, because the rotation of the blades pushes the chemical down on the ground. Customers really like the job a helicopter does.

Because of the slower flight time and the fact that a helicopter only carries up to a maximum of 70 gallons of chemical per trip, helicopters would have a serious disadvantage over a plane if the pilot had to return to an airport to reload chemical and to refuel. However, helicopters dont need conventional airports. Ley has his own portable airport, a landing pad on top of his chemical truck. The truck also carries fuel, chemicals and water. I take my airport with me, jokes Ley.

This portable airport allows Ley to minimize the time it takes for refueling and reloading of chemicals. We park the truck as close to the field as we can get, he points out. It takes under a minute to refuel and reload chemicals. I can also land on roads or approaches, if necessary. Ley on average sprays about 400 acres per day. It depends how far I have to ferry to refuel and reload, he explains. If were parked right by the field, it goes very fast. It takes a little longer if the truck is parked a mile or so from the field.

Ley carries approximately 55 gallons of chemical for each trip. I can carry heavier loads, but my batch tank holds 200 gallons, he says. If I go with 50 gallons of chemical each trip, I get four trips from a tank. Then Dave (Leys helper) can remix a new batch of chemical while Im spraying the last of the tank.

Dave McDunn, Leys crew and driver, mixes chemicals and has the mix waiting when Ley returns from a run. Ley lands the copter on the top of the truck, McDunn refuels and reloads the chemical tank, then Ley takes off and returns to the field to continue spraying.

The entire reloading process takes approximately 35 seconds from touchdown to takeoff. McDunn also drives the truck from location to location. Some days he remains in the same location for the entire day, and other days he may move the truck six or seven times during the course of the day.

Ley learned to fly a helicopter in 1987, when the owner of the ranch where he worked bought a helicopter. Ley had the opportunity to learn to fly the machine, a chance he did not turn down. We couldnt get an airplane to come in and spray for us, Ley recalls. We got a helicopter to come in and spray, and the pilot eventually sold us the helicopter. I had the opportunity to learn to fly it, and I took that opportunity.

Ley began flying professionally in 1990. The ranch sold in 1994, so Ley and his wife built a hangar at the airport in Choteau. Ley began working as a certified mechanic, a job he still performs today. He also conducts helicopter inspections, and he has rebuilt several helicopters, including the one he flies now, a Hiller UH-12E. This Hiller works well for spraying, he remarks. The transmission is more rugged and it works well at low altitudes.

Ley first sprayed in the Savage area several years ago. At that time he had a trailer rather than his portable airport truck. The trailer wasnt nearly as efficient, Ley remarks. I then went to Minnesota and saw how those guys did it. Thats when I bought my truck.

Ley returned to the Savage area last year, and this year returned to spray not only in Savage but throughout the MonDak beet growing region. Ill be here for the duration, he says.

Ley averages 400 sprayed acres per day. His overall best day occurred last year in the Savage area, when he sprayed 800 acres in one day. You need good weather all day to accomplish that many acres, Ley comments.

Ley sprays all over the state. Besides working in this region during Cercospora season, Ley works for agencies throughout Montana. He contracts with government agencies and counties to spray county land and BLM land. He has work lined up in Baker after he finishes spraying Cercospora for MonDak growers. I travel all over the state, he remarks. I like the variety and I enjoy visiting different places.