AT-802
ICAO AT8TA crop duster turned firebomber turned armed attack aircraft. Live AT-802 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No AT-802 is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Air Tractor
- Role
- Aerial firefighting and light attack
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 1 to 2
- First flight
- 1990
- In service
- 1990
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the AT-802
The AT-802 is the largest single-engine agricultural aircraft ever built, and it was designed to spray fields. Its capacity and toughness made it an obvious firebomber, and forestry services from Turkey to Spain to the United States fly it in that role.
Then it went to war. The armed AT-802U and its derivatives carry sensors, guns and precision munitions, and the United States selected a version as the OA-1K Sky Warden for Air Force Special Operations Command — a light attack aircraft for permissive environments, built on a crop duster.
Most airframes here are firefighting or agricultural state aircraft; Turkish forestry examples are frequent.
Callsign prefixes
- TANKER
- Forestry and firefighting operations
- ORMAN
- Turkish forestry service
How to recognise it
- —A very large single-engine low-wing aircraft with fixed undercarriage and a hopper filling the fuselage.
- —A cockpit set far back, almost over the wing trailing edge.
- —Firefighting versions have a belly door; armed versions carry underwing pylons.
Common questions
+ What is the OA-1K Sky Warden?
The armed United States Air Force version, selected for Air Force Special Operations Command as a light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft for environments without air defences.
+ Is the AT-802 really a crop duster?
That is what it was designed as, and most are still used for agriculture. The firefighting and armed versions are adaptations of an agricultural airframe.
+ How much water can it drop?
Around 3,000 litres in the firefighting configuration — less than a purpose-built tanker, but it is cheap, agile and can operate from short strips near a fire.