I have a basic idea for an airplane that would pull a plow. Because of the required speed, it would need a plow with a very sleak design. This would be attached to the plane with retractable cables.

So scientists, farmers, and aviation enthusiasts, butcher the idea!

What are you going to do when it hits a rock?

Oh and I don't like your poll question, since anything that can be made for less than people will pay for it is a good idea unless it's unethical or highly immoral. It should have an "i'm not sure, what about ..... ?" option. :D

Maybe science fiction is your calling.

The plow would be designed with a very low angle. 3 feet in front of the plow would be a brace of sorts, curved up; similar to a skid. To answer your question, each inividual plow would have a separation of 2 and 1/4 feet, and a second plow to follow to cut up the ground in between the leading plow. any rocks of sise that would would be hit, would simply be shoved off to one side, or in the case that a rock got caught, (not very common) the plow would be released from the plane and picked up after the stone has been cleared. So if you still think this is a problem, tell me why!

Have you ever plowed a field? Have you ever flown a plane? Have you ever plowed into a field with a plane? Well, I'm here to tell you, I've done all 3. Once, while rather blithely drawing some snow-art with my airplane's wheels (don't ever try this without skis- I ceretainly won't again), I was dismayed to break through the crust with one wheel. What happened in the next nanosecond was noisy, expensive, and most of all, embarrassing: Bent gear leg, prop, and ego, all in the blink of an eye.

Unless your Airtractor is going have the mass of a small airliner or larger, your engineering will be, well physically challenged. Any force applied at any significant distance from the Center of Gravity to an airplane in flight causes motion about the center of gravity. Think of it as a small boat on water, regarding the small force required to cause a tilting. When we make normal deflections of the flight controls, we are exerting aerodynamic forces of 20 pounds or less. Combine such a force with that the disagreeable effect at low altitude of tilting downward (decreasing the wing's angle of attack) and you quickly get, well, noisy, expensive, and embarrassing things happening.

I also tow gliders, and in the course of an average tow the tension on the towrope varies between nothing and about 250 pounds, in a force closely aligned with the flight path, and passing through the center of gravity. In the towplane, you can feel every slight change of tension. It would be very easy just after liftoff for a rapidly climbing glider to suddenly nose me into the ground, with a 2 g or better tuck over. This is why I have a release lever right at hand, especially early in the tow: If I feel one really bad move through that towrope and in my buttcheeks, "see ya!", the wayward glider is on her own with a recoiling 200' of springy nylon towrope and steel tow ring comin' atcha, whatever the situation: That's how towpilots get even for scaring them.

Helicopter pilots undergo a lot of training to fly what they call "external loads", and the hazards are many, and often get fatally out of hand. This is for the same reasons: Flying machines, buoyed up on air, are sensitive to variable loads. But if you have achieved a breakthrough in overcoming this challenge, I would like to know more about it. Such a revolutionary development in flight would come in handy in many emergencies, not to mention in the course of routine airwork.

Here's a photo of an actual Air Tractor:http://www.airtractor.com/models/m401b.jpg
You can find out more at Air Tractor's (http://www.airtractor.com) website. They make wonderful agplanes. You should inquire about plow attachments with them. I'd love to hear their response. Good luck!

That's dumb. How about something like a torpedo, but for soil? Or something like cluster bombs, but with seeds? I don't see any advantage to making your tractor fly. Why push against the air, when you can push against the ground?

Well, you could have thrusters (jets? rockets? probably not practical) on a vertical wing to provide the torque necessary to counter changes in load. Computer monitoring of this decidedly off-center and variable load could be coupled with computerized control of the thrusters and tow rope dropper, thus helping to keep "noisy, expensive, and embarrassing things" from happening.

Perhaps pushing would be a better option, but then you'd need a rigid connection with the plow, so the "flying" part would be out.

I would rather have a hover-tractor, or a plowing laser or something. Why don't you tell us the practical advantages of the sky plow?

I can't really see the advantage of a flying tractor but if it was attempted I think something like a rocket powered blimp would be the only way to do it. Tossing what is essentially an anchor out of an airplane in flight seems, on the whole, like a bad idea to me.

WHY? Airplanes need to go fast, plows need to go slow. How about a remote controlled plow, now that would be cool.

better is the autoplow.

better is the autoplow.

what, you mean oxen?

LOL. If you could get them sumbitches to follow a straight line and turn the corners when it's time, then yeah. So see that's even better, we need to DNA us up some designer oxen with GPS shit built in and such. Then you've got yourself some autoplow.

NOW YOUR TALKING! make them shoot lazers out of their horns too (to stop bored farm boys from a night of "cow tipping") and they'd be perfect.