The Air Tractor was designed by company founder Leyland Snow who earlier designed the Snow S-2 (built by Rockwell and Ayres).The initial Air Tractor model was the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial powered AT-301 which established the Air Tractor series' basic configuration. First flight was in 1973, and 600 were built. The PT6 turbine powered AT-302 introduced in 1977 was replaced by the AT-402. The R-1340 powered AT-401 introduced a greater span wing and increased chemical hopper capacity and first flew in 1986. The AT-402 is similar other than its 505kW (680shp) PT6A turboprop engine, the AT-402B has increased span wings.
The AT-502A (first flight Feb 1992) is based in the 402B but has a far more powerful 820kW (1100shp) PT6A-45R turbine driving a slow turning five blade prop. Its excess power reserves allow high speed or high altitude operations. The AT-502B has Hoerner wingtips and optional equipment including GPS.
The 5.4 tonne MTOW PT6 powered AT-602 first flew on December 1 1995 and became available for delivery in the second half of 1996.
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