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 duste ...

that first flew in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 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 song ...

. Type certification was awarded to Air Tractor in April

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. 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 wings. 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 ge ...

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 spre ...

and the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

Variants

* AT-400 - AT-301 with 680 shp (507 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-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 engine, reciprocating type that was widely used in United States, American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, an ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

. 168 built. * AT-401A - AT-401 with PZL-3S 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.

Aircraft on display

* AT-400A N3159D is on display at the

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous exhibits, ...

Chantilly, Virginia Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an ...

. It is decorated in a livery depicting Dusty Crophopper from the 2013 animated film '' Planes,'' having been given the livery at the request of

Disneytoon Studios Disneytoon Studios (DTS), originally named Disney MovieToons and also formerly Walt Disney Video Premieres, was an American animation studio which created direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio was a division ...

prior to its acquisition by the museum.

Specifications (AT-401)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Air Tractor - www.airtractor.com
{{Air Tractor aircraft AT-400 1970s United States agricultural aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Single-engined turboprop aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1979