Air Tractor AT-402

Air Tractor · United States · first flew 1990 · light aircraft

The Air Tractor AT-402 is a purpose-built turboprop agricultural aircraft produced by Air Tractor of Olney, Texas, offering a 1,514-litre hopper capacity suited to moderate-scale aerial application work.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, tapered
E — Engines	1 × turboprop, nose-mounted
F — Fuselage	8.46 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Low-wing turboprop agricultural aircraft with large forward chemical hopper
Single enclosed cockpit positioned behind the hopper, well aft of the engine
Spray booms extending from underside of low wing

A low-wing monoplane with a large rectangular hopper filling the forward fuselage ahead of the cockpit, a PT6A turboprop with a four-blade propeller, and a wide-track fixed undercarriage; very similar to the AT-502 but shorter and lighter overall.

Specifications

The Air Tractor AT-402 has a length of 8.46 m (28 ft).
It has a wingspan of 14.63 m (48 ft).
Its maximum speed is 246 km/h (153 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Air Tractor introduced the AT-402 in 1990 as a mid-range model sitting between the smaller AT-401 and the more powerful AT-502. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-15AG turboprop, it replaced earlier piston-engine designs in many agricultural fleets and quickly became a bestseller among contract spray operators.

Variants

The AT-402A and AT-402B introduced incremental improvements in cockpit ergonomics and airframe reinforcement; the AT-402B is the most common configuration in current production.

Where you'll see it

Widely operated by agricultural aviation contractors across the United States, Australia, Brazil, and southern Africa for crop protection, fertiliser spreading, and fire retardant drops.

Related aircraft

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