NAAA has released a new survey to better understand the interests of agricultural aviation operators when it comes to using or operating around Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as drones.

 

The survey asks several questions that will give NAAA staff insight into its members’ thoughts regarding UAVs. Questions include: “Do you use UAS at your operation?,”  “Are you considering using UAS at your operation to either: scout fields for obstacles; crop-sensing/aerial imaging to make precision applications; conduct applications for small, difficult to treat cropland?,” and “Do you believe UAS are a significant threat to your safety when flying an aerial application mission?” among others. NAAA also is attempting to determine whether or not operators would be willing to anonymously provide GPS logs, or even statistical GPS information (such as number of flights in a given time period, altitudes, times, etc.) to a federal research panel working on UAS policy for beyond line-of-sight operations. Should operators be willing share this information, it will help the panel to take agricultural aviators’ interests into account.

 

If you are an operator but have yet to receive the survey, please e-mail Christian Rice, Coordinator of Government and Public Relations, at crice@agaivation.org.