NAAA Submits Comments on American National Standards Institute UAV Roadmap

NAAA has submitted comments to the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standardization Collaborative (UASSC) roadmap that outlines the future of voluntary industry standards in the UAV industry. 

 

In September 2017, ANSI launched the UASSC to coordinate and accelerate the development of the standards needed to facilitate the safe integration of UAS into the national airspace system. The UASSC was not chartered to write standards, but to review areas where standardization is needed.

 

The Standardization Roadmap for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Version 1.0 has identified 57 gaps in the areas of: airworthiness, flight operations, personnel training, qualifications and certification. A “gap” means no published standard or specification exists that covers the particular issue in question. Of the 57 identified gaps, 34 gaps have been identified as high priority, 20 as medium priority, and 3 as low priority.

 

NAAA commented that it strongly agrees with the roadmaps assessment that gaps exist in the communication, treatment efficacy, operational safety, equipment reliability and airspace integration of unmanned aircraft used for aerial application compared to their manned counterparts and that extensive research and development should be required to prove their safe use. Efficacy, drift potential, and ability to comply with the aerial application requirements on EPA pesticide labels are key areas UAVs need to comply with before certification for pesticide application use.

 

Additionally, NAAA strongly agreed that more research and development is needed to develop detect and avoid systems and that it should be a high priority for the aviation industry, if not the highest priority. NAAA made sure ANSI and the UASSC was aware of the Colorado Ag Aviation Association conducted a study on the visibility of UAVs at low levels and only one of five manned aircraft were able to positively identify UAS. NAAA believes detect and avoid systems should be standard on all unmanned aircraft, requiring unmanned aircraft to land autonomously when a manned aircraft is detected close by due to UAV’s limited visibility and the already high cockpit workload of aerial applicators.

 

NAAA disagreed with the roadmap’s assessment that as UAVs scale down, existing avionics such as ADS-B will become too large and burdensome to be properly installed on UAVs. As UAV technology progresses, so will the technology of these avionics. As it currently stands, uAvionics manufactures the “ping1090” a 20-gram ADS-B transceiver. The world’s largest UAV manufacturer, DJI, is considering equipping all of its UAVs with ADS-B out.

 

Founded in 1918, ANSI serves as the administrator and coordinator of the United States private-sector voluntary standardization system. ANSI oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector. ANSI is also actively engaged in accreditation by assessing the competence of organizations determining conformance to standards.

NAAA Member Michael Rutledge Wows Students at 2018 Aviation Expo in Northern Va.

Last week more than 700 students from across the Mid-Atlantic region were exposed to a wide range of career opportunities in aviation, including agricultural aviation, at the 2018 Aviation Education & Career Expo at Leesburg Executive Airport in Leesburg, Va. Michael Rutledge, ag aviator and commanding officer of the Executive Flight Detachment at the United States Military Academy at West Point, gave the keynote speech Oct. 26 at the 13th Annual Aviation Education & Career Expo. In addition to his keynote speech, Rutledge also did an aerial demonstration in a Thrush 510P provided by Jeff Chorman of Allen Chorman & Son Inc. in Delaware.

 

ProJet Aviation General Manager Julie O’Brien created the event to introduce young people to the vast array of career opportunities within the aviation industry. Other presenters included ProJet CEO Shye Gilad, NTSB Air Safety Investigator Heidi Kemner, and a K-9 demonstration by Cpl. Matthew Werner and Russell, a bomb-sniffing dog from the Explosive Detection Canine Unit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department. The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team also performed.

 

 

Mike Rutledge speaks to students at the 13th annual aviation career day in Leesberg, VA

 

In between the speaker blocks and prior to his own keynote address, Rutledge made an array of impressive turns, maneuvers and simulated applications in Chorman’s ag plane. An air boss narrated during Rutledge’s performance using talking points that informed students and chaperones about the benefits of aerial application. Rutledge also arranged for a parachute jump demonstration by members of West Point’s helicopter and parachute team, which followed his ag aviation demo.

 

After changing out of his flight suit and into his dress blue military uniform, Rutledge took the stage a short time later to speak to deliver a motivational address about following your dreams and fulfilling your destiny. In addition to being an ag pilot, Rutledge has had a distinguished military career that began when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and then became a Navy SEAL. From there, he became an Army special ops aviator, before moving into his current post as the commanding officer of West Point’s aviation unit. In the summers, Rutledge has also spent the last five seasons working as an ag pilot. Rutledge grew up in a small farming community in Illinois, so agriculture and aviation have always been close to Rutledge’s heart. (Mike’s father owned a Stearman but died when Mike was 12; his mother sold the aircraft after her husband’s death.) Rutledge joined the Navy he got turned on to the Navy SEAL program and later flight school and set goals to become a SEAL and then a military pilot. As different doors opened, he took advantage of new opportunities.

 

 

Mike Rutledge performs a manuver in Jeff Chorman's Thrush 510 for students at Leesberg Executive Airport

 

“You have to dream big,” Rutledge advised the students. “Do not dream small. Do not shortchange yourself. You need to pick something so outrageous and so unattainable and make that your goal. If you pick something down here, you’ll get it, but you’re not realizing your potential.”

 

Over the course of the day, NAAA spoke with students about the many benefits of ag aviation in protecting food, fiber and biofuel, fighting forest fires, and controlling mosquito populations. Students also learned what it’s like to be an ag pilot or ag aircraft mechanic.

 

NAAA has been a corporate sponsor of the Aviation Education & Career Expo for the past five years. The event draws students from across the Mid-Atlantic region and gets bigger each year. This year ProJet awarded more than $350,000 worth of aviation scholarships to students who submitted essays in various scholarship categories.

 

Thank you to Michael and Jeff for helping recruit the next generation of ag pilots!

 

 

 

Mike Rutledge speaks to a student at the 13th annual aviation career day in Leesverg, VA

Wisconsin’s Damon Reabe Educates EPA’s PPDC on Issues Related to Drones Making Aerial Applications

Wisconsin aerial application operator and NAAA Board Member Damon Reabe was in D.C. this week to represent the voice of aerial applicators at the EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC). While at the PPDC, Reabe gave a presentation to clear up popular misconceptions regarding UAVs used for aerial application. 

 

Reabe explained the pesticide drift characteristics and efficacy of droplet size of applications made by air and that UAVs a application characteristics are largely unknown and require extensive research and development to ensure environmental and human safety. 

 

Reabe informed the group about the extensive research put into USDA’s AgDRIFT model to calculate drift risk for ag aircraft, ground sprayers and air blasters. Smaller unmanned aircraft do not fit properly into the AgDRIFT model. Reabe recommended the development of a panel for UAVs similar to the Spray Drift Task Force to accurately study the drift characteristics of applications made by UAVs. This research could then be incorporated into the Ag DRIFT model. 

 

Additionally, Reabe explained the advertised application rates combined with advertised droplet size and small payloads of UAVs indicate label language is most likely not being complied with. Also, Reabe gave an example of a UAV company advertising three to five meters as the optimal application height, but this exceeds the max altitude for all pesticide labels. 

 

Reabe also informed the group about the recent UAV standards roadmap released by the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) that found gaps exist in the communication, treatment efficacy, operational safety, equipment reliability and airspace integration of unmanned aircraft used for aerial application compared to their manned counterparts and that extensive research and development should be required to prove their safe use.

 

Reabe is chairman of the NAAA’s Government Relations Committee—an important federal advisory committee that consists of a forum of diverse stakeholders related to pesticides to provide feedback to the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs on various pesticide regulatory, policy and program implementation issues.   

 

 

Reabe presents to the PPDC to address popular misconceptions surrounding aerial application and UAVs.

 

 

Reabe sits at the table with other stakeholders involved in pesticide policy at the most recent EPA Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee meeting.  

BASF’s Inscalis Insecticide Receives EPA Registration

Watch out, insects, there’s a new mode of action in town. BASF has received the U.S. EPA registration for Inscalis^®, a new insecticide that controls piercing-sucking insect pests in a variety of row and specialty crops, including soybeans, cotton and citrus.

 

According to the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee, insecticide resistance has added $40 million to the total insecticide bill for farmers in the form of additional and alternative applications. Inscalis insecticide meets farmers’ demands for new tools to control insects in their fields.

 

The novel mode-of-action insecticide is geared toward quickly and efficiently controlling insect pests such as aphids, whiteflies and certain psyllids. Inscalis is an active ingredient that controls piercing/sucking pests in specific specialty and row crops by targeting chordotonal organs in antennae and joints, BASF reports. This mode of action rapidly stops pests from feeding, thereby reducing transmission of diseases vectored by the insects, the company says.

 

John Sabatka, a strategic account manager at BASF, says aerial applicators will play a key role in applying BASF’s new insecticide products across broad acres. Inscalis products, including BASF’s Sefina™ and Versys™ insecticides, are labeled for aerial use.

 

The chemistry’s unique formulation works by moving through the leaf to control pests that may be living on the underside of leaves. Inscalis insecticide’s fast onset of action causes insect feeding to quickly stop, limiting the spread of damage and transmission of viral pathogens. BASF also notes that Inscalis insecticide boasts a favorable environmental profile with low toxicity to beneficial insects, including pollinators. It also has a caution signal word on the label.

 

The Inscalis active ingredient was discovered by the Japanese company Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd. and the Kitasato Institute—specifically Satoshi Omura, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015—and co-developed with Meiji. The active ingredient will power Versys™ insecticide, Sefina™ insecticide and Ventigra™ insecticide.

 

Versys insecticide is labeled for use on brassica, leafy vegetables, pome and stone fruit, and will target aphids and whiteflies. Sefina insecticide, labeled for use on citrus, cotton, cucurbits, fruiting vegetables and soybeans, targets the Asian citrus psyllid, aphids and whiteflies. Ventigra insecticide is for use in greenhouse and nursery production, and ornamental landscapes.

Ag Aviation Expo Pre-Registration Deadline Saturday, Nov. 3; Save $50 per Registration

We look forward to seeing you at the 2018 Ag Aviation Expo in Reno, Dec. 3–6 at the Atlantis and Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Avoid long lines onsite and save money by pre-registering for the Ag Aviation Expo by Nov. 3. You can now register online for the Ag Aviation Expo or you can print and mail a registration form.

 

We are continually updating the schedule of events for this year’s convention and we are excited to announce a few of our exciting events scheduled for this December:

• Kickoff Breakfast speaker Greg Peterson, Peterson Farm Brothers, Social Media Ag Promoter
• General Session – Articulating Aerial Application for All.  Protect your livelihood by proselytizing your livelihood in this vitally important general session to strengthen your ability to effectively communicate the benefits of aerial application.
• NAAA Trade Show – featuring ten aircraft and an expected 150+ exhibitors. Floor plan will be available in mid-July
• Aerial Application Research Technology Session and more than a dozen education sessions. CEUs are offered for some states.
• Support Committee events available on Monday and Wednesday. Please note that Monday requires pre-registration.

Additional details for the 2018 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo

• Dates: Dec. 3-6, 2018
• Location: Atlantis Casino Resort Spa and Reno-Sparks Convention Center
• Schedule of Events: Current schedule here. Subject to change.
• Hotel: Hotel Details Below
• Auction Donations: Thank you to Pratt & Whitney Canada for their donation of a PT6-34AG Engine to this year’s NAAA Live Auction. The earlier you inform us of your auction donation, the more advertising you’ll receive on the NAAA website and in NAAA publications. Support the aerial application industry by donating an item today. Email Lindsay with your donation details.
• Attendee Registration: Now Open; Pre-Registration ends 11:59 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 3.
• Exhibitor Booth Sales: Now Open
• Sponsorship Opportunities: View the sponsorship opportunities. Please email Lindsay if you would like to secure a sponsorship from last year or to discuss 2018 opportunities! We offer sponsorships for all budget sizes.

Book Your Hotel Room

Our block at the Atlantis is currently sold out; however, but rooms may open up in November as we always have cancellations. Feel free to call the Atlantis at (800) 723-6500 to check the status of rooms in mid-November.

 

The Peppermill is about one mile from the Atlantis. We do not have a block there, but it is a very nice hotel, if you’d like to look at rooms at their hotel at www.peppermillreno.com. The Peppermill phone number is 1-866-821-9996. Verify the cancellation policy so that you can cancel if rooms open at the Atlantis.

Currently Sold Out

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa is a world-class, AAA rated Four Diamond resort destination. A splendid oasis created for relaxation, celebration and rejuvenation, the Atlantis has always been a favorite resort destination for travelers near and far. Recognized for luxurious accommodations, a world class revitalizing spa and salon, award-winning dining and fun casino action. This is not the same Reno from the early 2000s; the city is rapidly changing, and it has become ground zero for a new technology boom that has helped spawn amazing restaurants, microbreweries, bars, shopping and nightclubs. Having a new vibrancy all its own, Reno is a cool and unique place to visit.

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa

• Rate: $109/night + taxes (NAAA has negotiated to waive the resort fee. Included in your room rate is complimentary in room Wi-Fi or wired internet, self-parking, use of fitness center, use of indoor pool, extended check out time of 12 p.m. and complimentary airport shuttle service)
• Reservations: Call (800) 723-6500 and reference the NAAA Convention (SNAA18) to check the availability of rooms. Online reservations require a deposit of one night’s room charge + taxes. Call-in reservations will not be charged a deposit but require a credit card to hold reservation.
• Block Deadline: Monday, Nov. 12
• Hotel Address: 3800 S. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89502
• Airport Shuttle: Atlantis provides a free airport shuttle that runs at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour from 5:15 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. leaving the airport. The shuttle leaves the hotel on the hour and 30 minutes after the hour from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Many Auction Items up for Bid at the Ag Aviation Expo; Letter of Credit Required for PT6A-34AG Engine

NAAA thanks the many companies that support ag pilots and their operations, as well as the industry as a whole, through donating items for the Live and Silent Auctions at the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo. The money raised from these items supports NAAA programs and we’re still seeking additional items to make this auction a record breaker!

Join us for the Live Auction & Reception on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 5:30 p.m. at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on the NAAA Trade Show floor. All are welcome to enjoy the auction and food and beverages sponsored by Syngenta. The Silent Auction, in booth #441, will be open on the NAAA Trade Show floor during Trade Show hours and until 3 p.m. (staggered closing of silent auction items begins at 2 p.m.) on Wednesday, Dec. 5. Bid early and often! Click here for a full list of auction donations and supporting companies. 

Thank you to Pratt & Whitney Canada for their generous donation of a brand new PT6A-34AG turboprop engine. Please note that potential buyers must provide a letter of credit from a financial institution to NAAA and place 10 percent down as an initial deposit. The engine is valued at $517,547. Please send letter of credit to Lindsay Barber.

Additional details for the 2018 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo

• Dates: Dec. 3-6, 2018
• Location: Atlantis Casino Resort Spa and Reno-Sparks Convention Center
• Schedule of Events: Current schedule here. Subject to change.
• Hotel: Hotel Details Below
• Auction Donations: Thank you to Pratt & Whitney Canada for their donation of a PT6-34AG Engine to this year’s NAAA Live Auction. The earlier you inform us of your auction donation, the more advertising you’ll receive on the NAAA website and in NAAA publications. Support the aerial application industry by donating an item today. Email Lindsay with your donation details.
• Attendee Registration: Now Open; Pre-Registration ends 11:59 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 3.
• Exhibitor Booth Sales: Now Open
• Sponsorship Opportunities: View the sponsorship opportunities. Please email Lindsay if you would like to secure a sponsorship from last year or to discuss 2018 opportunities! We offer sponsorships for all budget sizes.

Book Your Hotel Room

Our block at the Atlantis is currently sold out; however, but rooms may open up in November as we always have cancellations. Feel free to call the Atlantis at (800) 723-6500 to check the status of rooms in mid-November.

 

The Peppermill is about one mile from the Atlantis. We do not have a block there, but it is a very nice hotel, if you’d like to look at rooms at their hotel at www.peppermillreno.com. The Peppermill phone number is 1-866-821-9996. Verify the cancellation policy so that you can cancel if rooms open at the Atlantis.

 

Currently Sold Out

 

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa is a world-class, AAA rated Four Diamond resort destination. A splendid oasis created for relaxation, celebration and rejuvenation, the Atlantis has always been a favorite resort destination for travelers near and far. Recognized for luxurious accommodations, a world class revitalizing spa and salon, award-winning dining and fun casino action. This is not the same Reno from the early 2000s; the city is rapidly changing, and it has become ground zero for a new technology boom that has helped spawn amazing restaurants, microbreweries, bars, shopping and nightclubs. Having a new vibrancy all its own, Reno is a cool and unique place to visit.

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa

• Rate: $109/night + taxes (NAAA has negotiated to waive the resort fee. Included in your room rate is complimentary in room Wi-Fi or wired internet, self-parking, use of fitness center, use of indoor pool, extended check out time of 12 p.m. and complimentary airport shuttle service)
• Reservations: Call (800) 723-6500 and reference the NAAA Convention (SNAA18) to check the availability of rooms. Online reservations require a deposit of one night’s room charge + taxes. Call-in reservations will not be charged a deposit but require a credit card to hold reservation.
• Block Deadline: Monday, Nov. 12
• Hotel Address: 3800 S. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89502
• Airport Shuttle: Atlantis provides a free airport shuttle that runs at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour from 5:15 a.m. to 12:45 a.m. leaving the airport. The shuttle leaves the hotel on the hour and 30 minutes after the hour from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Membership Matters! Renew your 2019 Membership Today!

Thank you for your 2018 NAAA membership; we appreciate your continued support. You will soon receive your membership renewal information in the mail; however, there is no need to wait!  You can renew your membership online by logging into your account in the upper right-hand corner. Once you’ve logged in, click Membership Renewal on the left-hand toolbar.

NAAA membership is as important as ever as NAAA needs resources to continue working to ensure EPA registers a healthy inventory of crop protection products for aerial use without restrictions. NAAA continues to advocate daily on these and other important issues for the safety and continuity of the aerial application industry. Continue to protect your interests and strengthen the ag aviation today by renewing online today. 

RECENT SUCCESSES

2017/2018 have been successful for public relations. NAAA continued its advertising campaign in Farm Journal, which directs readers to NAAA’s website and its “Find an Aerial Applicator” search function. The publication has a circulation of nearly 350,000 farmers nationwide.

 

NAAA also attended EAA AirVenture for the third consecutive year to spread the word about the importance of agricultural aviation as well as recruit the next generation of ag pilots who will provide the aerial application services farmers depend on.

Click here to read the complete 2017 NAAA Activity Summary.

POLICY PRIORITIES

NAAA is your wingman in Washington D.C. and is dedicated to lobbying and advocating on your behalf on the following issues affecting the industry:

• Protecting ag aircraft from UAVs by advocating UAVs be equipped with safety enhancing equipment such as ADSB-Out, visible strobe lights, and tracking and ID technology.
• Ensuring the safety of low-flying ag aircraft by working to preserve and implement the marking requirements for communication towers under 200 feet.
• Continually evolving education programs and services such as the Professional Aerial Applicators’ Support System (PAASS) that reduce aviation accidents and save lives. PAASS attendees can receive potential discounts through their insurance providers. PAASS and other NAAA education programs also qualify for continuing education units applicators use to renew their commercial pesticides licenses. 
• Eliminating unnecessary, duplicative and burdensome regulations such as eliminating NPDES permitting requirements for aerial pesticide applications over or near water and ensuring local governments do not ban the use of federally registered crop protection products.
• Opposing efforts to eliminate the ag aviation fuel tax exemption; opposing the levy of user fees for ag aircraft flights; and resist efforts to lengthen the time to depreciate ag aircraft purchases.
• Obtaining federal funding for USDA aerial application research, enhancing our stewardship and efficiency.

MEMBER PERKS

• Discounts: Reduced fees to attend the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo for attendees and exhibitors.
• Information: NAAA’s weekly eNewsletter, which keeps you up-to-date between the published issues of Agricultural Aviation quarterly magazine
• Exposure: Personal or business listing in the printed and online NAAA Membership Directory
• Marketing Materials: Access to promotional tools such as the Flying for Your Food brochure, UAV awareness bill stuffers,wind tower safety ads and Aerial Application presentations and curriculum guides
• Professional development: Access to leadership training opportunities and scholarships
• Networking: Be part of a community of 1,900 members
• Public Relation Tools: Access to the NAAA Media Relations Kit to assist with PR opportunities and crisis communications
• Rebates: Earn cash-back for recruiting new members or earn rebates for attending BASF/Operation S.A.F.E. clinics

You can read more about the benefits of NAAA Membership online. We are just a phone call or email away to answer your questions! Contact the NAAA office at (202) 546-5722 or renew online today!  Log into your account in the upper right hand corner. Once you’ve logged in, click Membership Renewal on the left-hand toolbar (as seen in the graphic below).

Thank you for your continued support.

AUTO RENEWAL INFORMATION

Make it easy to renew by signing up for auto renewal.  NAAA offers auto renewal for membership and NAAREF donations. When you sign up for auto renewal, NAAA will automatically charge the credit card on file every Sept. 1st (increasing 3% each year, rounded up to the next $5 increment). There are four ways to sign up for auto renewal:

1. When you receive your renewal statement in September, mark the box in the payment area for auto renewal.
2. Renew your membership online and you’ll be asked during the process if you’d like auto renewal.
3. Call the NAAA office at 202-546-5722 and request auto renewal.

Return the membership form in the next Agricultural Aviation magazine and mark the box in the payment area for auto renewal.

An Opportunity to Protect Ag Aircraft from UAVs, FAA Reinstates ADS-B Rebate

The FAA has re-launched a $500 rebate for equipping fixed-wing single engine piston aircraft with ADS-B Out technology. The agency has made $4.9 million available for the program that runs through October 11, 2019.

 

As of January 1, 2020, aircraft flying in airspace where a transponder is necessary today are required to be equipped with ADS-B Out technology. The FAA has repeatedly said it will not move this deadline.

 

“The ADS-B mandate is not going away. We are about 15 months from the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline and now is the time for aircraft owners to equip,” said FAA acting administrator Dan Elwell.

 

While many ag aircraft do not require transponders and will still be able to fly after January 2020 without ADS-B, NAAA encourages ag aviators to consider equipping their aircraft with ADS-B as a means of making yourself aware to other aircraft equipped with ADS-B In whether they be other manned aircraft or UAV operators. Recently NAAA received word from a major global UAV manufacturer of their real interest in equipping their UAV fleet with ADS-B In technology.

 

There are five steps for claiming your $500 rebate:

1. Visit the FAA’s website and select the equipment you want to purchase and schedule an instillation date within the next 90 days
2. Reserve your rebate and get your Rebate Reservation Code
3. Have your equipment installed
4. Fly to validate the equipment’s performance; receive your Incentive Code
5. Claim your $500 rebate using your Rebate Reservation and Incentive Codes

It is imperative you schedule your installation as quickly as possible, since you must provide a scheduled installation date when reserving your rebate that is in the next 90 days. Many maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities are experiencing a backlog of aircraft as the 2020 deadline approaches.

 

The previous rebate program ran from September 2016 to September 2017, but as much as one third of the available rebate money went unclaimed. The relaunched rebate program is available only to those who have not yet equipped their aircraft and does not apply to ADS-B software updates.

 

You can learn more about the rebate program on the FAA’s website here.

NAAREF Fundraiser Full of Fun at Ag Aviation Expo

Help us raise money for NAAREF and PAASS at King Pins, a fundraiser for the ag aviation industry’s premier educational safety program. This fundraising bowling event will take place on Sunday, Dec. 2, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.

 

Registration is now open and is required; the donation is $100 per person. Each person must register separately, and the bowling alley suggests no more than five people per lane. If you have questions while you’re registering, please email us.

 

Transportation from the Atlantis to the National Bowling Stadium will be offered and your donation includes shoe rental at the bowling alley. Food and beverages are not included; a bar and concessions will be available for purchase at the bowling alley.

 

Help us raise funds to continue the highly regarded PAASS Program, working to reduce the number of aviation accidents and drift incidents each year.

Donate Your 2018 Season GPS Data to Protect Against UAVs

In 2016, NAAA began reaching out to operators telling them about an opportunity our industry has to help the FAA keep manned aircraft safe from UAVs. By anonymously sharing your GPS data logs with Mississippi State University, the University will work with the FAA to demonstrate ag pilots flight characteristics. This, in turn, could lead the FAA to have sufficient data to better protect ag aviators flying in and around UAVs, based on submitted GPS data logs.

 

Mississippi State University's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory (RFRL) is leading a team of aviation researchers to determine when and where unmanned aircraft systems can operate safely with other aircraft at low altitudes. To do this, the RFRL research team is collecting data on when and where low-altitude aviators fly. But air traffic control radar doesn't provide coverage in the rural and or low airspace  where ag aviators are. If we want to show the FAA where low-level UAV flights could put ag aviators at risk, we need to send the RFRL our GPS data logs. The data you provide will be used to build representative flight profiles for agricultural aviation operations. Your data, when combined with flight data from other pilots, will help the RFRL team create the most accurate computer model ever built for low-altitude flight operations. This model will help to more reliably determine where drones can operate safely.

 

RFRL will conclude GPS data collection at the end of 2018 and transition into the data analysis and modeling phase of this project.  Therefore, GPS data from the 2018 season is especially important to this research as it provides the most current GPS data of the entire project.  Even if you have donated in years past, donating the data from your 2018 season can still be very useful. If you have never donated your data before, please consider sending your GPS data to university researchers to help them complete what promises to be a life-saving project.

 

As important as this research will be to flight safety, protecting your privacy is even more important. The data you provide will be stripped of personally identifiable information before it is stored and processed for this project. Your data will only be used for this purpose and will not be released outside of Mississippi State's flight research team without your express permission.

 

Additionally, Raspet preforms all calculations in-house without any third-party involvement. Raspet DOES NOT save any maps, images, or any other representation of the GPS logs and the geographic location of field will never be released. Lastly, since Raspet does not have any farmer or land ownership information for fields, there is no personal information involved or included in this process whatsoever. 

 

If you are willing to provide GPS data to support the RFRL's objective of enhancing low-altitude flight safety, MSU has set up a website that allows you to securely upload 1GB of your GPS track files. Go to www.hpc.msstate.edu/raspet-naaa and follow the instructions. The page will ask for a login—the username is: raspet-naaa, and the password is DATA#submission. Or if you prefer, you can simply email your files to agdata@raspet.msstate.edu (please limit email deliveries to 15 MB). For deliveries over 1 GB, you can save them on a thumb drive (or any external storage device) and mail it to:

 

Raspet Flight Research Laboratory
Attn: Madison Dixon
114 Airport Drive
Starkville, MS 39759

 

Additionally, if you have a large set of files you are currently storing on Dropbox or another file hosting site, email agdata@raspet.msstate.eduto request a link to share your files through Mississippi State's secure file sharing site. 

 

The RFRL will make recommendations to the FAA that will inform policy, procedures and operational guidelines for drone use that will help make our national airspace system safer. Most importantly, the results of this research may help save ag pilots' lives by making sure that everyone has the space they need to operate safely and effectively.

 

The RFRL at MSU was recently in the news for its contribution to a study showing UAV strikes are more dangerous to aircraft than bird strikes. The study was conducted through the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE). In addition to using resources from Mississippi State, researchers from Montana State University, Ohio State University, and Wichita State University also contributed.

 

This GPS project has been sanctioned by NAAA staff and the NAAA Government Relations Committee, both of which strongly believe this will benefit ag aviators nationwide.