Copter begins swooping over California Medflies

A helicopter armed with a potent pesticide began the controversial spraying of a fertile area of northern California where an invasion by the Mediterranean fruit fly is threatening the state's $14 billion agriculture industry. With all of the delays and legal appeals to block aerial spraying of the region exhausted , the copter made six passes over an infested area before it was forced to land because of a faulty hydraulic pump.

By week's end, officials hope to spray 117 square miles south and east of San Francisco in which fruit fly maggots have been discovered.