One of the most obvious advantages of aerial application is no soil compaction. Driving ground equipment through a field leaves wheel tracks and compacts soil particles, reducing pore space and restricting oxygen and water movement into and through the soil and root zone. That compaction can be particularly bad on wet soils, sometimes making the soil like a brick and reducing yields. Wet soils never stop aerial applicators from spraying. ​

Moving ground equipment through a field also inevitably damages the crop, sometimes up to five percent of the plants. That damage can reduce crop yield much more than the cost of an aerial application. ​

The extra height above the crop canopy with aerial application can help create a more uniform spray pattern. Nozzles can be too close to their target and give an uneven application, especially when a ground boom does not stay level in rough and uneven terrain. Aerial application can also apply seed and dry fertilizer formulations more uniformly than ground application, giving higher yield potential. ​

Waiting to apply pesticides often costs growers money. The quicker growers control a pest problem, the greater the yield benefit. Often, weather only gives a small window to apply pesticides over today’s large farms. Aerial applicators can start applying pesticides earlier as they do not have to waste precious time waiting for soil to dry. ​

Many pesticides are only effective at specific pest and crop growth stages. If a grower misses that application window, those pesticides may not work and the crop can be lost. Once application starts, aerial applicators can apply large areas much faster, spraying more acres in an hour than a ground applicator can in a day. The ability to apply pesticides rapidly at their optimum time is a big advantage for aerial application. ​

Sometimes growers want to delay applications to reduce input costs, particularly when crop prices are low. Their hope is that the pest infestation will not develop enough to reduce yield, or that only one application will be effective if they wait for weeds to germinate or insects to hatch. When growers wait, aerial application is the best way to go. ​

Ag pilots are the most trained applicators in the world.

Today’s ag aircraft use sophisticated precision application equipment such as GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), real time meteorological systems, variable-rate flow control valves, single-boom shutoff valves and smokers to identify wind speed and direction.