During a recent fumigation run in Norte de Santander state, five Colombian police planes were hit by rebel gunfire in a single day. Rebel attacks aren't the only danger. Farmers have tried to ambush pilots by stringing wires between trees flanking their coca fields. Known as the Turbo Thrush, the planes have been upgraded with armor plating, longer wings and a massive, turbine-powered engine for mountain flying. The Turbo Thrush can carry 440 gallons of herbicide.
Authorities describe the aircraft's delivery system as a crop-duster's version of a smart bomb.
Coca and opium fields are first detected by satellite imagery and then confirmed by U.S. reconnaissance flights. A computer in the crop-duster's cockpit displays the best approach routes to the coca and poppy fields and measures how much of the crop is hit. We use the most advanced technology. And if you're spraying 50 feet off the ground, you can't confuse coca plants with bananas. Still, there has been a cacophony of complaints from farmers charging that the pilots have destroyed their corn, beans, rice and sorghum crops.