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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAgricultural aviators treat 127 million acres of cropland in\nthe United States each year and perform a variety of services that help farmers\nincrease productivity and protect their crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine restricting a huge\nportion of the world\u2019s food supply, we cannot afford even a small disruption in\nthe nation\u2019s food supply chain,\u201d NAAA CEO Andrew Moore said. \u201cAgricultural\naviators deliver nutrients, seeds and crop protection products to crops that\nwill become consumers\u2019 food and fiber supply in the U.S. and around the world.\nTheir work cannot be delayed because of an unmanned aircraft not yielding to\nthem, as is required by law. 2021 was a big year for aerial applicators, and we\nexpect demand for aerial application services to be even higher in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agricultural aviators fly as low as 10 feet off the ground,\nmeaning they share airspace with UAs that are restricted to flying no more than\n400 feet above ground level. For this reason, NAAA urges UA operators to do\neverything they can to avoid ag aircraft doing important low-altitude work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAAA recommends that unmanned aircraft operators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Give the right of way to a manned aircraft. It\u2019s the law.<\/li>
- Equip drones with tracking technology, such as ADS-B In, so you will know ADS-B Out-equipped manned aircraft positions.<\/li>
- Get certified and well-trained in operating an unmanned aircraft.<\/li>
- Contact local agricultural aviation operations before flying by consulting AgAviation.org\/findapplicator<\/a>.<\/li>
- Equip UAs with visible strobe lights and high visibility marking.<\/li>
- Land your unmanned aircraft immediately when a low-flying aircraft is nearby.<\/li>
- Carry UA liability insurance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Small UAs can be virtually invisible\u2014and potentially lethal\u2014to agricultural aviators, air ambulance helicopters, law enforcement and other low-flying manned aircraft operating in the same airspace. In a test<\/a> conducted by the Colorado Agricultural Aviation Association and other stakeholders, including manned and unmanned aircraft organizations, and the state of Colorado, no pilot operating a manned aircraft could continuously visually track a 28-inch-wide drone when flying at regular speeds. While they might be spotted for a second, UAs are not constantly visible to pilots, meaning it is up to the drone operator to avoid a collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When birds hit an ag aircraft, they can break through an\naircraft\u2019s windshield, causing deadly accidents. A study conducted by the\nAlliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) showed\nUA collisions with aircraft cause more damage than a bird strike of comparable\nsize would, due partially to unmanned aircraft\u2019s dense motors and batteries, as\nopposed to a bird made mostly of water, feathers, hollow bones and sinew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this moment when we\u2019re all depending on the continued safe, affordable and abundant supply of food, fiber and bioenergy, don\u2019t forget America\u2019s agricultural aviators are working in the skies to help farmers produce their crops. Manned ag aircraft are also flying at low altitudes to combat fires and conduct public health applications to eradicate disease-carrying mosquitoes and other deadly pests. If you\u2019re going to fly an unmanned aircraft this summer, please be responsible and do everything you can to avoid agricultural aircraft. Learn more at AgAviation.org\/uavsafetycampaign<\/a> and Knowbeforeyoufly.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the nation enters the upcoming growing season, the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) is asking all unmanned aircraft (UA) operators to be mindful of low altitude manned agricultural aircraft operations. Agricultural aviators treat 127 million acres of cropland in the United States each year and perform a variety of services that help farmers increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21732,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730\/revisions\/21732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}