Bill,
I agree with you - would make a pretty cool airplane (although it's a little slow for the fuel burn) and it has lovely control response.
When I was working ground crew for a crop duster I was told that when they got in a hurry and needed a flagger at a place it was going to take too long to drive, they simply stuck him in the hopper and flew him over there. I never saw it done and certainly would not liked to have done it - there's not a lot of things to hang on to, the space is oddly shaped, with a big metal baffle in the middle that is designed to keep the chemical from sloshing and the tank would almost always be lined with chemical stuck to the walls with a puddle at the bottom. I don't even want to think about the effects of breathing concentrated chemical in that tank for the ten or fifteen minutes a flight would take.
(Airplanes involved were Call Air A-9s)
I was also told that some of the smaller spray pilots would put a small flagman behind them in the seat to get them to a field to be treated. Never saw it. (Heard it was done in single-seat fighters from time to time...)
The more I think about your idea, the more I like it. There's probably enough space for two seats. Plexiglass around them and you've got quite a sight-seeing machine.
And, hey, Gene Soucy turned an Ag-Cat into the Show-Cat and does akro in it. The possibilities for old sprayers might be limitless! I never tried to roll an Ag-Truck or Ag-Husky, but it always seemed they would do decent aerobatics...
Warmest regards,
Rick
