1.00pm - By ANNE BESTON
A triple air attack against a moth pest finally achieved lift-off in the early hours of this morning after being grounded by bad weather for 10 days.
A Fokker Friendship, twin-engined helicopter and light single-engined plane took to the skies just after 6am from Whenuapai Airbase
to spray an 8000ha swathe of West Auckland with the insecticide Foray 48B, or Btk.
The aircraft are still in the air spraying.
This $90 million aerial campaign is the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's last-ditch attempt to wipe out the Aussie pest painted apple moth.
While the helicopter and small plane did most of their work around the margins of the upper Waitemata Harbour, the bigger Fokker aircraft swooped low over West Auckland's suburbs, disappearing from view behind the tallest trees and seeming to fly just above the rooftops.
Most West Aucklanders appeared to simply go about their business as the spray drifted to the ground like a light rain shower.
MAF spokesman Robert Isbister, who spent the day at the operation's headquarters in Henderson, expressed relief the aerial attack was finally underway.
Painted apple moth is estimated to be a $35 million to $350 million threat to forestry and horticulture but the MAF's efforts to eradicate the pest have been dogged by controversy.
Since the decision was made in 1999 not to aerial spray immediately, the insect had continued to spread and MAF's earlier 600ha aerial spray campaign failed to kill it off.
Further reading
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