{"id":25300,"date":"2023-04-07T15:12:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T15:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=25300"},"modified":"2023-04-07T15:13:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T15:13:00","slug":"naaa-cautions-all-drone-operators-be-mindful-of-ag-operators-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/naaa-cautions-all-drone-operators-be-mindful-of-ag-operators-this-season\/%20","title":{"rendered":"NAAA Cautions All Drone Operators; Be Mindful of Ag Operators This Season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As the nation enters the upcoming growing season, the\nNational Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) is asking all unmanned\naircraft (UA) operators to be mindful of low-altitude manned agricultural\naircraft operations. Agricultural aviators treat 127 million acres of cropland\nin the United States each year and perform a variety of services that help\nfarmers increase productivity and protect their crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drones are not allowed above 400 feet without a waiver from\nthe FAA, and manned agricultural aircraft fly as low as 10 feet off the ground\nwhen making an application, meaning they share this low-altitude airspace with\ndrones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith the growing number of drones over the last few years,\nit is critical for their operators to be aware of low-flying, manned\nagricultural aircraft,\u201d said Andrew Moore, chief executive officer of NAAA. \u201cIt\nis extremely difficult, if not impossible, for manned aircraft to see a drone\nwhile conducting crop-enhancing and other aerial applications 10 feet off the\nground at speeds as fast as 140 mph. We encourage professional and hobbyist\ndrone operators to keep this in mind to ensure a safe 2023 growing season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While aerial applications are already underway in many parts\nof the country, operations nationwide will peak during the summer months. In a\nsurvey NAAA conducted near the end of the 2022 agricultural aviation season,\n22% of manned aerial application operators\u2014more than 1 in 5\u2014reported that\neither they or a pilot flying for them encountered a drone while operating an\nag aircraft last year (see Fig. 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/NAA-survey-.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25301\" width=\"364\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/NAA-survey-.png 419w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/NAA-survey--300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/><figcaption><em>Fig. 1. Percentage of ag aviation operations that encountered a drone while operating an ag aircraft in 2022.  <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>NAAA previously profiled an agricultural aviator who had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agaviationmagazine.org\/agriculturalaviation\/library\/item\/fall_2018\/2730253\/\">multiple near-misses<\/a> with drones during the 2018 growing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NAAA has and will continue to work to educate unmanned\naircraft users and the public about how to use drones safely, especially in\nagricultural areas. NAAA urges drone operators to do everything they can to\navoid ag aircraft doing important low-altitude work. In addition, NAAA\nrecommends that unmanned aircraft operators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Give the right of way to a manned aircraft. It\u2019s the law.<\/li><li>Equip drones with visible strobe lights, highly visible markings and tracking technology, like an ADS-B Out system.<\/li><li>Get certified and well-trained in operating an unmanned aircraft.<\/li><li>Contact local agricultural aviation operations before flying by consulting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agaviation.org\/AF_AerialDirectory.asp\">AgAviation.org\/findapplicator<\/a>.<\/li><li>Land your unmanned aircraft immediately when a low-flying aircraft is nearby.<\/li><li>Carry unmanned aircraft liability insurance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>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 href=\"https:\/\/www.agaviationmagazine.org\/agriculturalaviation\/november_december_2015?pg=45#pg45\">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<p>When birds hit an ag aircraft, they can break through its\nwindshield, causing deadly accidents. A study conducted by the Alliance for\nSystem Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) showed UA collisions\nwith aircraft cause more damage than a bird strike of comparable size would,\ndue partially to unmanned aircraft\u2019s dense motors and batteries, as opposed to\na bird made mostly of water, feathers, hollow bones and sinew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this moment when we\u2019re all depending on the continued safe, affordable and abundant supply of food, fiber and bioenergy, don\u2019t forget that America\u2019s manned 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agaviation.org\/uavsafetycampaign\">AgAviation.org\/uavsafetycampaign<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/knowbeforeyoufly.org\/home\">Knowbeforeyoufly.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 productivity [&hellip;]<\/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-25300","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\/25300","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=25300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25302,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25300\/revisions\/25302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}