This week, NAAA
sent a press release to media
outlets encouraging landowners to mark and log towers on their
property ahead of forthcoming FAA regulations. Both the FAA Extension,
Safety and Security Act of 2016 and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018
require towers between 50 and 200 feet tall with an above-ground base of less
than 10 feet in diameter in rural areas to be marked and/or logged in a
database the FAA is currently developing. Previously, no towers under 200 feet
were subject to any federal marking requirements.
Under the provisions in these
laws, meteorological evaluation towers (METs) meeting the requirements
stipulated in the bill must be both marked and logged in to the FAA database.
Communication towers of the same size have the option to be either marked or
logged in the FAA database.
The press release stated that
from 2008 to 2018, there have been 22 agricultural aviation accidents from
collisions with METs, communication towers, towers supporting power lines and
wind turbines resulting in nine fatalities. However, when including tower accidents for all of general aviation,
there have been 40 tower-related accidents and incidents resulting in 36
fatalities over the same 11-year period. The press release states in part:
These obstructions are a not
just a risk for agricultural aviators, but for all general aviation operations
as well, including EMS, law enforcement, aerial imaging flights, sport pilots
and gliders....The data also shows many of those general aviation aviators did not collide with
the main body of the obstruction itself, but the extremely difficult to see guy
wires supporting the structure, illustrating the importance of installing
high-visibility guy wire sleeves or spherical ball markers.
“These startling figures show
the risk of tower accidents cuts across all segments of aviation, and the proper
marking and logging of these obstructions must be undertaken with the utmost
seriousness” [NAAA Executive Director Andrew] Moore said.
The press release gave the
example of North Dakota farmer and aerial applicator Brian
Rau marking and logging a 96-foot-tall RTK tower on his property.
Short for “real time kinematic,” RTK towers supplement the GPS systems of
automated ground-based farm equipment. As an aerial applicator, Rau knows the
importance of having such towers both marked and logged into appropriate FAA
databases, regardless of legal requirements. He added florescent ball markers
within the structure’s skeleton soon after it was converted from a
communications tower to an RTK tower. This year Rau took the additional step of
providing the coordinates of his tower to the FAA’s Obstacle Data Team for
inclusion in the Daily Digital Obstacle File, an existing database where
towers under 200 feet can be logged voluntarily.
“Seeing the growth of
communication towers in North Dakota and across the county, I knew it was
important to both mark and properly log the tower,” Rau said. “Submitting the
tower to be included in the FAA’s Daily Digital Obstacle File only took minutes
and was well worth a few moments of my time.”
Landowners and farmers may submit an obstruction
to the FAA’s Daily Digital Obstacle File by emailing the tower’s height and
coordinates and any existing markings to 9-AJV-532-OBSTData-REQ@faa.gov. Information
on the tower’s owner or property owner is not asked for or publicly given.
The press release has so far been published by Ag
Air Update and Vertical
Magazine.
You can read the full press
release here.