Adult Medfly Aerial Release
Approximately 36-40 stacks of PARC boxes are utilized for each aerial release. After the Medflies have been knocked down, they are poured into an Aerial Release box that holds approximately 80 pounds of flies. The Aerial Release box is weighed and taken to a waiting airplane.
K&K Aircraft, Inc., is the company under contract with the United States Department of Agriculture to conduct all aerial releases of the sterile Medflies over the L.A. basin. K&K maintains and operates five twin engine Beech aircraft for the Project. The aircraft have been modified to accommodate the Aerial Release boxes and can release either sterile Medflies or sterile Mexican fruit flies. The pilots release the sterile flies from an average altitude of 2000 feet throughout the project area.
The project sterile release area is divided into 30 release regions. Inside each aircraft is a computerized navigation guidance system based on GPS technology, that is differentially corrected to three feet. The navigation system provides a map display of the assigned release region. The map allows the pilots to know when to start and stop releases, as well as, what flight lines to follow. The navigation system tracks the position, air speed, altitude of the aircraft, status of the release machine and the speed of release.
At the end of each work day, the pilots submit their flight logs to the Section Leads of our Aerial Section, who determine the quality of the release and the rate at which the flies are being distributed. The Section Leads monitor proper ground speed, dispersal rates and release altitude for each flight.
