National Parks contracted a chopper to deliver poison bait (Fipronil) aerially to wipe out existing yellow crazy ants. The bait is dropped from a big bucket (not shown - you can see the attachment cables below the body) as the pilot follows GPS maps of the surveyed supercolonies. I tagged along at the landing zone this morning while they fueled up (hand cranked out of of the back of the truck) and lubed up (hand greased all the moving parts). There was a bit of down time where our friend Brendan learned not to get too close to the tail rotor, and I got to take a virtual ride in the cockpit, where I shot down some bogies, pointed to the triumph, and waved below to the masses. Then I got to feel the wind in my hair as they lifted up and headed out.
