Nebraska Ag Helicopter Hit by Shotgun Blasts

Last week an eastern Nebraska ag pilot near Omaha became the latest victim of a shooting which involved minor damage to his helicopter. The pilot believes he was shot at three times during a turn-around between passes and hit by at least two of the shotgun blasts. The large number of pellets spread out and damaged numerous places on the helicopters skin including the cabin door.

 

Quick notification of law enforcement authorities by the operator and pilot led to the shooter being apprehended and arrested quickly. The operator also sought the advice of NAAA about other reports that should be made but fortunately the arrest came before any other notifications were necessary to aid in capture of the shooter. However, the operator followed through by reporting the incident to the FAA FSDO and the FBI regional field office after the fact.

 

In conversation with the sheriff’s office that made the arrest, the operator learned that the suspect was held in jail for four hours and then allowed to make bail and his weapons were not confiscated. The operator/victim asked the sheriff if a person had shot at the door of a car going down the road, would he be released in such a short time? His answer was “but that’s different.”

 

In either case, an injury to the driver or pilot can be serious. In addition, damage to aircraft control systems which may cause a crash may be even more serious than that of an automobile. NAAA is available to aide those in this situation to exert pressure on local or federal authorities and with electronic and press media to realize the danger caused by these careless acts and to ensure there are repercussions to those that execute such actions.

 

The FAA has been contacted and is investigating the incident, but the FAA needs to rely on other agencies, such as local law enforcement or the FBI for prosecution of criminal acts because the FAA has no law enforcement powers. The FBI regional office has been notified and is investigating the situation. The operator has promised to keep NAAA informed of progress.  

NAAA Pokes Holes in Articles’ Claims About UAVs’ Crop Spraying Advantages

NAAA has rebutted two recent articles espousing the virtues of drones in agriculture that erroneously suggested crop spraying UAVs are superior to professionally piloted manned agricultural aircraft from an efficacy, precision and cost-savings standpoint.

 

“Automating Farming from the Sky,” an article published Aug. 2 on AirSpaceMag.com, the website of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, flatly stated:

Drones are increasingly replacing traditional aircraft in crop dusting, technically known as “aerial application” of herbicides, fertilizer, pesticides, and even seeds. Because drones fly lower and slower than manned crop dusters, they can spray crops much more efficiently and accurately, reducing costs to the farmer, mitigating pesticide drift, and reducing the chance of accidents. 

On Aug. 1, Business Insider published “Exploring agricultural drones: The future of farming is precision agriculture, mapping, and spraying” on BusinessInsider.com. In this piece, the author’s claims about drones’ superior crop spraying capabilities were downright puzzling:

Drones such as [Yamaha’s RMAX helicopter UAV] are capable of spraying crops with far more precision than a traditional tractor. This helps reduce costs and potential pesticide exposure to workers who would have needed to spray those crops manually. 

NAAA members know that such assertions are absurd—so much so that NAAA could not let them go unchallenged. NAAA sent detailed letters to the editors of both publications that pointed out the flaws in their articles’ assertions about drones’ crop spraying capabilities and made clear that the efficacy of manned aerial applications over unmanned ones is irrefutable.

 

NAAA Executive Director Andrew Moore’s letter to Air & Space magazine is reprinted in full below.

 

August 10, 2017

 

AIR & SPACE Magazine
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
MRC 513
Washington, DC 20013-7012

 

Dear Editors:

 

While there is no question exciting possibilities exist for the use of drones in agriculture, in “Automating Farming from the Sky,” contributing editor Ed Darack couldn’t be more incorrect in his assertion that “Drones are increasingly replacing traditional aircraft in crop dusting.” Certainly in the United States, that’s simply not possible now or for the foreseeable future. The notion drones are superior to manned crop dusters in terms of efficiency, accuracy and costs to the farmer is also far-fetched. Mr. Darack’s statements about the perceived advantages unmanned agricultural aerial applications have over manned aerial applications don’t square with the speed, efficiency and economic benefits America’s agricultural pilots provide to their customers, nor with the size and scope of the farms they treat by air.

 

Looking outside the U.S., Yamaha’s RMAX helicopter drones have been spraying crops in Japan for more than 20 years, but Japanese agriculture bears little correlation to agriculture in America. Japan’s 1.63 million commercial farms manage small plots—only 4.8 acres, on average, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. In contrast, with an average size of 442 acres, U.S. farms are more than 90 times larger.

 

In the U.S., it is not uncommon for ag pilots to cover hundreds of acres in a single load and treat thousands of acres per day. For example, a 500-gallon ag plane can treat a 100-acre field in 20 minutes or less—far faster than a drone equipped for aerial application. Researchers at UC-Davis conducted field tests using a remote-controlled RMAX helicopter that sprayed about five acres per hour. Therefore, it would take the UAV 20 hours to treat what an ag plane could do in 20 minutes. Thinking of hiring a fleet of UAVs instead? It would take 60 UAVs to complete the work in the same 20 minutes as the 500-gallon ag plane, and each UAV would need to have a separate licensed drone pilot operating it and a significant number of troops to constantly reload and refuel the UAV fleet. If that sounds like a lot of labor costs, you’re right. In either instance, using a single drone or a fleet of them to treat a field instead of manned ag aircraft is going to be much more expensive for the farmer.

 

The claim drones can apply crop protection products more precisely than professional ag pilots also is false and absent of any credible study attesting to such a benefit. Flying “lower and slower than manned crop dusters” does not give drones a leg up over manned ag aircraft or even ground rigs in terms of coverage, deposition or accuracy. All aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters, push air down toward the ground and away as they fly. Any wing, be it fixed or rotary, creates downwash. The amount of air pushed down is exactly proportional to the weight of the aircraft the air is holding up. A 140-pound helicopter drone does not displace much air. With ag planes typically weighing around 10,000 pounds or more fully loaded, a manned ag aircraft can generate far more downward air pressure. Helicopters operate on the same principle as a rotorcraft UAV, but at a much greater weight and a corresponding increase in spray product moving down into the crop canopy, increasing plant coverage and protection.

 

Finally, there is much more to performing aerial application work safely and effectively than UAV evangelists may think. There is no substitute for the experience, mindfulness and judgment it takes on the part of the pilot to minimize the possibility of drift. Notwithstanding the positive hype and publicity surrounding UAVs’ potential commercial uses, there is simply no comparison between the efficacy of manned aerial applications versus unmanned ones.

 

Sincerely,

 

Andrew D. Moore

Executive Director

National Agricultural Aviation Association

 

NAAA’s response to Business Insider made many of the same points, but also debunked some false assumptions specific to Business Insider’s article. Excerpts of NAAA’s letter to Business Insider appear below:

 

Business Insider cited four agricultural drones ranging in price from $3,300 to $12,000. Those UAVs are used for of aerial imaging, not spraying. A 140-pound RMAX helicopter UAV—currently the only UAV legally able to spray in the U.S.—is easily over $100,000. Reportedly, Yamaha plans to charge about a hundred dollars per acre for vineyard spraying. Ag aircraft operators typically charge between $6 and $14 per acre depending on the crop.

 

The suggestion that using a drone to apply pesticides somehow makes it safer for workers also is off base. Pesticide labels require Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for both applicators and loaders (workers who mix the pesticide spray and load it into the spraying system). The recently revised compliance manual for the U.S. EPA’s Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides exempts aerial applicators from many of the PPE requirements because the cockpit is an enclosed cab, which prevents exposure to the pesticide spray. Ground-based application equipment have the same exemption. The greatest exposure risk for pesticide handlers is during the mixing and loading phase, not the actual application. During mixing and loading, the worker is exposed to the concentrated pesticide formulation. An applicator is spraying a solution that has the pesticide concentrate diluted in water, greatly reducing the exposure risk. UAVs have small tanks with very limited capacities, which means they will need to be loaded many more times than a manned agricultural aircraft for any given application.

 

Looking back at the comparison between the RMAX and the 500-gallon ag plane treating the 100-acre field, let’s assume a spray application rate of 2 gallons per acre, a rate used both by UC-Davis in its research and commonly applied by manned agricultural aircraft. That means every acre of the field will receive 2 gallons of spray. The 100-acre field therefore needs 200 gallons of spray. Because the ag plane can hold 500 gallons of spray, it would only need to be loaded once for the field. The RMAX can only hold 4.2 gallons of spray, which means it would need to be loaded 48 times to treat the 100-acre field. This greatly increases the risk of exposure to the workers.

 

The full Business Insider letter is available here.

National Potato Council's Field Day for EPA Staff in Idaho Promotes Ag Aviation Professionalism

This week, members of the EPA got a chance to explore Idaho agriculture in an event planned by the National Potato Council in conjunction with the Idaho Potato Commission. The field day was created to educate EPA staff on the judicious use of crop protection products that are used by farmers and farm service providers. Several EPA members were in attendance from various departments within the organization including entomologists, environmental risk employees and licensing and registration individuals.

 

The first event of the week was held on the Hoff Family Farm and airstrip. The Hoff’s come from a long line of aviation enthusiasts and are as well known for their collection of aircraft as they are for farming. Co-owner, James Hoff, grows alfalfa, potatoes and grain and got the opportunity to discuss what types of crop protection products he uses on his farm and at what times of the year they are applied.

 

Leif Isaacson, owner of Desert Air Ag, Inc. in Eastern Idaho and NAAA 2014 president participated in the event by bringing an Air Tractor 502 to the airstrip to show attendees the basics of the aircraft. He explained how GPS worked in an ag aircraft to prevent overspray, how the nozzles were setup to help alleviate drift and reviewed the safety features on the aircraft like the emergency environmental valve, air bags and wire cutters. Afterwards, he performed an aerial demonstration to show a full boom spray pass, a half-boom spray pass and how to use the smoker and half-boom shut-off to avoid having to leave a buffer zone near a susceptible crop.

 

“The aerial display was a great way for us to show them the workings of a modern agricultural aircraft and to discuss the issues we encounter with regulations, safety and application techniques,” said Leif Isaacson.

 

The meeting was informal and offered a relaxed setting for the visitors to gain a better understanding of what issues farmers and aerial applicators have to contend with. James Hoff explained, “Everyone was all ears and receptive to the dialogue. It was a great way for them to understand the farmer’s perspective, but also a great chance for us to hear things from the regulation side.”

 

USDA Aerial Image Processing Workshop Offered at Ag Aviation Expo

Due to the popularity of the aerial imaging session at last year’s NAAA Convention, Chenghai Yang from the USDA-ARS Aerial Application Technology Research Unit in College Station, Texas will lead another USDA Aerial Image Processing Workshop at the 2017 Ag Aviation Expo on Wed., Dec. 6 from 8 – 10 a.m. The 2017 workshop will demonstrate some of the image systems that USDA has assembled and Yang will provide up-to-date information on these systems. You will see demonstrations on how to use the commercial image processing software Pix4DMapper to process a set of geotagged red-green-blue (RGB) and near-infrared (NIR) images acquired with a two-camera imaging system. The images will be converted into georeferenced image mosaics, surface elevation models, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) maps and prescription maps for precision aerial application.

 

Any NAAA Ag Aviation Expo attendees are welcome to attend the workshop to see the camera systems and/or the process to convert images into useful maps. For those who are interested in gaining some hands-on experience on image processing, please contact Chenghai Yang at chenghai.yang@ars.usda.gov to receive the download instructions for the software and sample images for the workshop. 

NAAA Ag Aviation Expo Registration

Attendee registration is open for the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo. Register online or print off a paper registration form and mail it in with your payment.

 

Exhibitors: there are still booths available for the 2017 NAAA Trade Show. Exhibitor details are online here and you can purchase your booth space here.

Book Your Hotel Room

2017 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo housing is coordinated through the Savannah Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Housing office. Please do not call the hotels directly; use the link and/or phone number below to book your room.

 
Rooms are available at the Westin Savannah Harbor (directly next to the convention center), Hyatt Regency Savannah and Savannah Marriott Riverfront hotels (across the river from the convention center and Westin—transportation provided).
 

Book your room today by clicking here or calling the housing bureau at (912) 644-6465. Please note that reservations are taken Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. If you cannot call during those hours, please book your room here.

 

PLEASE NOTE THE CANCELLATION POLICY FOR THE WESTIN FOR 2017. For each reservation canceled after Nov. 1, a non-refundable one-night room and tax will be charged to the credit card on file. Guests who check out early (prior to the reserved check-out date) will be assessed one full night's room charge, plus applicable taxes. This was put in place in 2015 due to many people cancelling rooms at the Westin a few days before the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo, leaving dozens of rooms unfilled at that hotel.

Complimentary Transportation & River Taxis

Complimentary river taxis and bus transportation will be provided between the hotels, convention center and the downtown Savannah entertainment district for all exhibitors and attendees.

Ag Wings of Tomorrow Scholarship Entries Due Aug. 31

From seeking a mentor to finding the funds for training, the road to becoming an ag pilot is fraught with obstacles, but having $5,000 in training money certainly helps. This year the odds of receiving a scholarship from NAAA are better than ever. Under its new “Ag Wings of Tomorrow” Scholarship Program, NAAA will award up to five flight training scholarships worth a combined $22,500. The deadline to apply for this year’s scholarships is Aug. 31. 

Thanks to educational grants provided by BASF, GE Aviation and Thrush Aircraft, four $5,000 scholarships and one $2,500 scholarship have been established to support aspiring agricultural pilots in their training needs. Applicants must be sponsored by an NAAA Operator member. Scholarship recipients may use the proceeds for flight training or aviation-related coursework at a university, college, community college or other institution of higher learning. A stipend for a trainee in an NAAA Operator-sponsored apprentice program is also permissible.

Along with completing the two-part application, every applicant must submit:

• A letter of recommendation from the NAAA Operator member sponsoring the applicant.
• An essay of 250 words or less written by the applicant explaining why you want to pursue a career in agricultural aviation and how you would use NAAA’s “Ag Wings of Tomorrow” Scholarship to further your education and training. 
• A one-page résumé or list of activities detailing all agricultural and aviation experiences, education and training.
  

All applications must be received or postmarked by Aug. 31, 2017, to be eligible for scholarship funds available for the following calendar year. Please contact NAAA’s Jay Calleja at (202) 546-5722 for clarification about any of the application requirements. The “Ag Wings of Tomorrow” scholarships recipients will be recognized at the 2017 Ag Aviation Expo in Savannah, Ga.

NAAA and NAAREF Board Meetings Oct. 6-7

The Marriott Plaza San Antonio will host the fall board and committee meetings of the NAAA and NAAREF Boards of Directors on Oct. 6–7 (some meetings, including PAASS Train the Trainer, will begin Oct. 4–5). View a tentative schedule of the board meeting here. All meetings are open to NAAA members; if you’re interested in attending, please email Lindsay Barber.  
 
Board members and interested members should make their room reservations before Sept. 15 online or by calling (800) 228-9290 and refer to the NAAA Board Meeting to receive the $145/night room rate (single/double). Rate includes complimentary basic Wi-Fi in guest rooms and meeting space and self-parking is $25 per day. There is no airport shuttle; cabs are around $28 from the airport and you can also Uber from the airport.
 
The Marriott Plaza San Antonio is one block off of the Riverwalk. You can learn more about the Riverwalk here.

NAAA Award Nominations Due Sept. 8

Each year, NAAA recognizes a handful of members for outstanding contributions to the aerial application industry. The 2017 award recipients will be honored Dec. 7 at the Excellence in Ag Aviation Banquet, the closeout to the 2017 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo. This industry is filled with exceptional people who go above and beyond the call of duty, often with little fanfare. We need your help to identify these unsung heroes. There are nine NAAA Award categories and one NAAREF Award. Get your nominee in before the Sept. 8 nomination deadline.

NAAA Award Categories

Agrinaut Award: Honors an agricultural aircraft operator or operating organization that has made an outstanding contribution in the field of ag aircraft operations. The recipient for the award must be or have been actively engaged in commercial agricultural application with an agricultural aircraft and the achievement cited should be a “state of the art” contribution for the benefit of the agricultural aircraft industry as a whole.

 

Allied Industry Individual Award: Recognizes an NAAA member or staff and/or an allied industry individual who has significantly contributed their efforts for the benefit of the allied industry and the aerial application industry. (Presented by the NAAA Allied Industry Committee.)

 

Delta Air Lines “Puffer” Award: Recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the design of agricultural aircraft and/or related equipment.

 

Evans-Christopher Operation S.A.F.E. Award: Recognizes individuals or entities that have made outstanding contributions to the Operation S.A.F.E. program. (Presented by NAAREF.)

 

John Robert Horne Memorial Award: Honors a pilot with five or fewer years of experience in the agricultural aviation industry who has an exemplary safety record and/or has contributed to safety in ag aviation.

 

Larsen-Miller Community Service Award: Recognizes outstanding contributions by a member to his community.

 

Opal & Bill Binnion Memorial Award: Acknowledges those who contribute to NAAA in its efforts to educate the public about aerial application. (Presented by the NAAA Support Committee.)

 

Outstanding Service Award: Awards outstanding service to the commercial agricultural aviation industry or to its association.

 

Related Industry Award: Recognizes outstanding contributions by an allied industry member and his or her company.

 

William O. Marsh Safety Award: Recognizes significant achievements in safety, safety education or an outstanding operational safety program.

 

The Awards Nomination Form is available as print-only and fillable PDFs at AgAviation.org/awards. It is also in the 2017 NAAA Membership Directory.

 

To make a nomination, send completed entries by Sept. 8 to NAAA at (202) 546-5726 (fax) or information@agaviation.org.