American agricultural and firefighting aircraft manufacturer Air Tractor celebrated the delivery of the thousandth AT-802, its popular single-engine model that first flew in the early 1990s. Its distributor, Lane Aviation, sold the unit to Brazilian agribusiness company Grupo Moacir Smaniotto through its agent in the South American country, Aero Globo Aeronaves.
The aircraft, an Air Tractor AT-802A (single-seat version), left Olney, Texas, for Sorriso, Mato Grosso, home of the company that acquired it. It sported a special livery in the yellow, blue and green colours of the Brazilian flag.
Air Tractor celebrated the milestone at an event that was also attended by representatives from Pratt & Whitney Canada, manufacturer of the engine used by the AT-802.
“We have come a long way with the 802 series”, commented Jim Hirsch, president of Air Tractor. “In the early 1990s when the very first 802 were built, our founder Leland Snow looked at the airplane and offhandedly remarked: ‘We will probably build ten or twelve of these’”. Hirsch also said that today Leland would be “really pleased with its worldwide distribution and success today”.
A brief history of the Air Tractor AT-802
In 1989, American pilot and aeronautical engineer Leland Snow, founder and first president of Air Tractor, began work on the design of a single-engine, high-capacity aircraft for aerial firefighting. After more than two years of development, manufacturing and certification, the first unit was delivered to its inaugural customer.
Air Tractor started manufacturing AT-802A aircraft for aerial agricultural spraying shortly thereafter. Thanks to its features (including its 3.028-litre payload capacity), the 802 series quickly gained popularity among aerial applicators.
By 2011, a total of four hundred aircraft had left the Olney factory and been delivered to customers around the world. Air Tractor doubled that number in 2019 and delivered the 900th aircraft in 2020. Today, the AT-802A is widely used by private operators and government agencies in both agricultural and aerial firefighting activities.
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