The Air Tractor AT-400 is a family of

agricultural aircraft An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles they are referred to as "crop duster ...

that first flew in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on September

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Type certification A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applic ...

was awarded to

Air Tractor Air Tractor Inc. is a United States aircraft manufacturer based in Olney, Texas. Founded in 1978, the company began manufacturing a new agricultural aircraft derived from the S-2B aircraft (designed by founder Leland Snow's previous compa ...

in April 1980. Of low-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

configuration, they carry a chemical hopper between the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spr ...

and the cockpit.

Variants

* AT-400 - AT-301 with 680 shp (507 kW)

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously upda ...

-15AG engine and 400 US gal (1,510 L) hopper. Short-span (45 ft 1¼ in (13.75 m)) wings. 72 built. *AT-400A - AT-400 with 550 hp (410 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-20 engine. 14 built. * AT-401 - AT-301 with longer-span wings and 400 US gal (1,510 L) hopper, powered by 600 hp (447 kW)

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

. 168 built. * AT-401A - AT-401 with

PZL-3S The Ivchenko AI-26 is a seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine used in early Soviet helicopters and later used in light utility aircraft. Design and development The AI-26 engine was designed by A.G Ivchenko in 1945 with the early designation M ...

engine. One built. * AT-401B -Improved revision of AT-401, with revised wingtips and further increased span (51 ft 1¼ in (15.57 m)). 69 built by December 2001. * AT-402 - AT-401 with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-15 engine. 68 built. * AT-402A - low cost version of AT-401B, with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-20 engine. 103 built by December 2001. * AT-402B - improved version of AT-402, with revised wingtips and increased span of AT-401B. 31 built by December 2001.

Specifications (AT-401)

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links