The National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) says\nthat many landowners and farmers might not be aware that due to provisions in\nboth the FAA Extension, Safety and Security Act of 2016 and the FAA\nReauthorization Act of 2018, towers between 50 and 200 feet tall with an\nabove-ground base of less than 10 feet in diameter in rural areas are legally\nrequired to be marked and\/or logged in a database the FAA is currently\ndeveloping. Previously, no towers under 200 feet were subject to any federal\nmarking requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the provisions in these laws, meteorological\nevaluation towers (METs) meeting the requirements stipulated in the bills must\nbe both marked and logged in to the FAA database. Communication towers of the\nsame size have the option to be either be marked or logged in the FAA database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 requires this database\nto be functional by October 2019. The FAA is also finalizing the marking\nrequirements for these towers, but they are widely expected to be similar to\nthe standards found in FAA Advisory Circular 70\/7460-1L.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the imminent release of these rules, the National\nAgricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) encourages landowners to preemptively\nmark their towers and voluntarily log towers on their property into the FAA’s\nDaily Digital Obstacle File (Daily DOF). The Daily DOF is an obstacle database\nthat contains mostly obstructions above 200 feet, with obstructions below 200\nfeet submitted on a voluntary basis. The Daily DOF gives an obstruction’s\nlocation, height and type of marking (if any). Information on the tower’s owner\nor property owner is not asked for or publicly given. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAAA is encouraging farmers and landowners to preemptively\ncomply with these regulations because over the last 11 years, since 2008, there\nhave been 22 tower-related agricultural aircraft accidents resulting in nine\nfatalities. The number of accidents and fatalities is even higher when other\nlow-level operations such as EMS-Medivac operations are included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Dakota farmer and aerial applicator Brian Rau has a\n96-foot-tall RTK tower on his property. Short for “real time\nkinematic,” RTK towers supplement the GPS systems of automated\nground-based farm equipment. As an aerial applicator, Rau knows the importance\nof having such towers both marked and logged into appropriate FAA databases,\nregardless of legal requirements. He added florescent ball markers within the\nstructure’s skeleton soon after it was converted from a communications tower to\nan RTK tower. This year Rau took the additional step of providing the\ncoordinates of his tower to the FAA’s Obstacle Data Team for inclusion in the\nDaily DOF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Seeing the growth of communication towers in North\nDakota and across the county, I knew it was important to both mark and properly\nlog the tower,” Rau said. “Submitting the tower to be included in the\nFAA’s Daily Digital Obstacle File only took minutes and was well worth a few\nmoments of my time.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From a safety perspective, being transparent about the\nexistence of low-level obstacles is vital to agricultural pilots and other\naircraft flying in the airspace between zero and 400 feet, such as police and\nfirst responder aircraft, aerial firefighters and pipeline patrol pilots. The\nFAA’s Digital Obstacle File (DOF) provides information about potential\nobstacles in pilots’ flight path before they take off. Once pilots download the\nFAA’s Digital Obstacle File or Daily DOF, they can import it into Geographic\nInformation Systems applications, such as agricultural aviation applications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FAA Advisory Circular 70\/7460-1L on obstruction marking and\nlighting details the ways different types of obstructions may be marked. The\ndocument provides specifications on lighting systems, colors and light\nintensities. As an alternative to lighting, the document also explains tools\nfor the “unlighted marking” of obstructions. This includes paint\ncolors and patterns, as well as specifications for guy wire sleeves and\nhigh-visibility spherical markers. Rau chose the latter option for marking his\nRTK tower. “The ball markers seemed the easiest for an existing galvanized\ntower, and they really improved the visibility of the tower,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Aerial applicators have been at the forefront of\nensuring a safe airspace for low-flying pilots for years,” said NAAA\nExecutive Director Andrew Moore. “We encourage farmers, landowners and\ntower companies to familiarize themselves with the dangers of unmarked,\nlow-level towers. Towers in and around productive farmland may prevent a crop\nfrom being treated by air if it is too difficult or unsafe for an ag pilot to\ntreat. As such, due consideration must be given to locating any type of tower\non ag land. If a tower’s construction is imminent or already exists, it is\nhighly encouraged that preemptive compliance with the forthcoming FAA\nregulations required by Congress occur.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting preemptively to make towers safer for pilots is also\nthe prudent thing for rural landowners and farmers to do. These obstructions\nare not just a risk for agricultural aviators, but for all general aviation\noperations, including EMS, law enforcement, aerial imaging flights, sport\npilots and gliders. An NAAA analysis of accidents from 2008 to 2018 across all\nsectors of general aviation found there were 40 tower-related accidents and\nincidents resulting in 36 fatalities over the span of 11 years. The data also\nshows many of those general aviation aviators did not collide with the main body\nof the obstruction itself, but the extremely difficult to see guy wires\nsupporting the structure, illustrating the importance of installing\nhigh-visibility guy wire sleeves or spherical ball markers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These startling figures show the risk of tower accidents\ncuts across all segments of aviation, and the proper marking and logging of\nthese obstructions must be undertaken with the utmost seriousness,” Moore\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the human cost, a precedent has been\nestablished increasing the likelihood that landowners and tower manufacturers\ncould be held financially liable for tower-related accidents. In 2014, a\nmilestone court settlement was reached when a group of defendants representing\ntower manufacturing, wind energy, land-owning and farming interests agreed to\npay $6.7 million to the family of agricultural aviator Steve Allen to settle a\nwrongful death action brought against the tower entities for failing to mark a\n197-foot meteorological evaluation tower or make Allen aware of its location\nprior to his fatal collision with the tower in 2011. From eyewitness accounts,\nit was clear Allen never saw the unmarked tower before he struck it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n