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Aerial Spraying
Herbicide, fungicide and insecticide put on at speed, across the steep draws and soft ground a ground rig would rut up.
Burndown · Fungicide · Insecticide See spraying →200,000+
Acres flown a season
Family owned & operated · Port of Whitman Business Air Center
Crop dusting, seeding and fertilizer, flown low and placed tight. Wheat, barley, peas and lentils across Whitman County and the rolling country beyond, one field at a time since 1994.
Fender Air Service was incorporated in 1994 and has worked the same wheat country ever since. Darrell flies the airplanes. Linda keeps the books and answers the phone. No call center and no franchise, just a family that knows every draw and hilltop between Colfax and the Idaho line.
We fly out of the Port of Whitman Business Air Center southwest of Colfax, with a second strip up at Oakesdale, so we can be over your ground fast when the weather turns fit.
The Palouse · Whitman Co., Wash.
From the first spring burndown to late-season fungicide, we cover the whole calendar. Liquid or dry, metered accurate, and kept on your ground instead of the neighbor's.
Herbicide, fungicide and insecticide put on at speed, across the steep draws and soft ground a ground rig would rut up.
Burndown · Fungicide · Insecticide See spraying →Cover crops, cereal rye and pasture seed broadcast from the air, over standing stubble and steep hillsides.
Cover crops · Pasture · CRP See seeding →Foliar feed and dry fertilizer laid down when the canopy is too tall or the field too soft to drive.
Foliar feed · Dry top-dress See fertilizer →Flown 6 to 10 feet off the deck and set down within a couple feet of target. Careful about the wind and your neighbors.
6–10 ft off the deck How we fly it →Flying the Palouse since 1994
Book Fender and you get Darrell in the cockpit and Linda on the phone. Same family, same country, every season since 1994. That is the whole pitch, and it is why the phone keeps ringing.
No rotating crew of strangers. The name on the airplane is the name in the seat.
One region, learned by heart. We know the power lines, the draws and the wind that comes up in the afternoon.
Colfax and Oakesdale mean short ferries and more flying in the hours the weather gives us.
Flown close to the crop and metered careful, so the product lands where you paid for it and stays put.
“I've been spraying a long time, and precision is everything. You put it on the crop and nowhere else.”
— Darrell Fender, Owner & Pilot
Purpose-built ag airplanes, kept sharp and flown hard through the season. Real airframes, real tail numbers.
Wheat · Barley · Peas · Lentils
Based in Colfax with a second base at Oakesdale, we cover Whitman County and the neighboring wheat and legume country of Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
A few words from the growers we fly for, season after season.
“Darrell got my flag-leaf fungicide on in a tight window before the weather turned. Called in the morning, flown by afternoon, and the drift stayed off my neighbor's peas.”
“We have been flying with Fender for years because they know this ground and the wind on it. No wheel tracks through my stand, no fuss, and the bill matches what we agreed on.”
“When my garbanzos needed a burndown ahead of harvest, Linda had me on the schedule and Darrell was over the field the next morning. Clean job, low drift, done right.”
“Aerial seeding on ground I could not get a drill across, and it came up even. These folks show up when they say they will and they treat you fair.”
We hold an FAA Part 137 agricultural aircraft operator certificate. Every flight follows the ag rules the FAA sets for spraying and dry application.
We carry a current Washington State pesticide applicator license. We know the labels, the rates, and what each product can and can't go on.
We are fully insured to fly and apply over your ground. If you want proof of coverage before we run a job, just ask and we'll send it.
We watch wind, temperature, and inversions before we ever load the hopper, and we hold off when conditions aren't right. We keep clean records on every field so you know exactly what went on and when.
Straight talk on timing, drift and getting the most out of an aerial pass, from people who fly the Palouse for a living.
On steep, rolling ground an airplane covers acres a ground rig can't, and never cuts a wheel track through your crop.
Read it →Flag-leaf to heading is a short window. Here is how we read the crop and get an aerial pass on at the right moment.
Read it →Low passes, the right conditions and a careful eye on the wind. How we keep product off your neighbor's field.
Read it →Spray windows are short and the good ones fill up fast. Tell us about your ground and we'll get you on the board. Rather talk it through? Call the shop, most jobs get quoted right over the phone.
Colfax & Oakesdale · Flying Feb–Oct, weather permitting