Last week the first mailing of invitations to participate in the NAAA 2018 Industry Survey of Part 137 Operators and Pilots was sent out by US Mail. The letters were sent to all holders of Part 137 certificates on the FAA’s list of certificate holders. Unfortunately, some of the first people to attempt the survey found it would lock up on certain questions. Several days of troubleshooting corrected the error and the survey is now running smoothly. Anyone beginning the survey should have no trouble. Revised instructions are being mailed to the people that received the invitation letter. Please remember if entering the survey address in the browser, type it into the address bar near the top of the page, not into your search engine’s search bar. If a password is required, enter 27541.

If you have started the survey and it locked up, you will need to start over to keep the survey site from returning to where you left off in the flawed program. Please follow one of these instructions:

1. Delete your browser history before starting the survey over.
2. If you are not able to delete your browser history, start survey over with an alternative device other than the one you previously used. For instance, if you started on an iPad or other mobile device, try using a personal computer. Or if you started on a personal computer, try using a different computer or a mobile device.
3. Contact Tim Struttmann at tim.struttmann09@gmail.com if any problems arise.

Remember, you should not have to do any of these solutions if you have not previously started the survey.

Within the next few days, all pilots and operators for which NAAA has an email address should receive an email requesting they participate in the online survey. When responding to the email notification, simply click on the link included in the email and begin the survey. The survey is made up of two separate sets of questions depending on whether you are an Operator or Pilot. The response to the first question asking if you are an owner/operator of a business that holds a part 137 certificate will direct you to the proper set of questions. Operators should answer for the entire operation and pilots should answer based on the aircraft they usually fly.

The survey is web-based on a secure website. NAAA has teamed with Tim Struttmann, a certified statistician, who successfully conducted the 2012 survey, to assist with collecting the requested data. Individual responses will be kept confidential. NAAA, Mr. Struttmann and his team have entered into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements to protect the privacy of the data collected.

Many of the questions used in the 2018 survey are the same as those used in the 2012 survey. This allows the NAAA to track changes in the industry, which is beneficial for showing the adoption of technologies and techniques that improve accuracy and safety. As an example, recently the EPA has accepted that GPS is the dominant means of swath guidance in agricultural aviation and that human flaggers are seldom used.

Completing the survey shouldn't take long—roughly 20 minutes. Remember, the value of this survey is only as strong as the type of information you submit and the number of completed surveys we can collect. The value of the survey results can be substantial.  Often times we have used the real industry survey data to counter EPA theoretical overestimates of risk made about our industry which has resulted in saving aerial labels on crop protection products and preventing restrictions on aerial labels on crop protection products. Trends indicate a large number in the industry are using closed contained mixing/loading systems and GPS to minimize worker exposure. Trends also indicate that a large number in the industry are using smokers to gauge wind direction. This is the type of information we need to show the EPA. Also, EPA will not give much credibility to the data we collect if only 3 percent of U.S. operators submit a survey; however, if we have a 95 percent industry response rate it adds significant credibility to the data we collected.