NAAA Provides Proof of Distance Needed to Safely Turn an Ag Aircraft to Refute Claims Made by Wind Farms, Towers, Other Obstructions

NAAA developed useful information to refute proposed setback distances from wind turbines and other tower-like obstructions this week. The information may be used by operators and state associations when dealing with wind farm and tower companies making claims that their obstructions do not hamper aerial application activities to crops. The basis for needing the information was a request from a public utilities commission to provide proof that agricultural aircraft need 1 mile or more to turn around safely at the end of a treated field. A wind farm sponsor in South Dakota had proposed a setback of a mere 500 feet, which is far too short a distance for making safe aerial applications with a fixed-wing aircraft in a field adjacent to a wind turbine or tower location site.

NAAA provided the information using two different methods. The first was a calculation using aircraft speed and average turn time to estimate the total distance required to make a turn. An AT-802A with a working speed of 145 mph was used as the example aircraft. The working speed was taken from the midpoint between 130 and 160 mph as denoted on Air Tractor’s specifications page for the AT-802A. An agricultural turn time of 45 seconds was used; this information was gleaned from operators’ experience and used in comments made to the EPA on several pesticide reregistrations. A speed of 145 mph is equal to 213 feet per second; 45 seconds to turn multiplied by 213 feet per second is equal to 9,585 feet or 1.82 miles needed to make the turn.

The second method NAAA used to provide evidence on the distance required to make a turn while conducting an aerial application was via GPS as-applied aerial application maps and Google Earth. Google Earth was used to measure the distance into the field that two turns required. The first was one of the shorter turns from the application from when the aircraft was lighter. This turn pushed 2,273 feet or 0.43 miles into the adjacent field. The second was from a longer turn made when the aircraft was fully loaded. This turn penetrated 9,147 feet or 1.73 miles into the adjacent field.

A Google Earth map showing an application made by an AT-802A. Green represents the flight path with spray on, while red represent the flight path with spray off. The yellow line is the ruler tool used to measure the total length into the field a longer turn required: 9,147 feet (1.73 miles).

You may find the above information helpful if you find yourself countering claims about the dangers wind turbines and other obstacles represent to the safety of agricultural aviators. For more public outreach tools on wind farms from NAAA, click here.

AgTech Startup Taranis Secures $30M in New VC Funding

Taranis, the Israeli-based aerial imaging company, has raised $30 million in a new round of venture capital funding, the company announced. Taranis has raised $60 million to date and plans a broadscale rollout of the company’s agronomic intelligence service.

The CEO of Taranis, Ofir Schlam, spoke at NAAA’s Ag Aviation Expo last year about its remarkable aerial imaging technology and the synergies it could present to agricultural aviation operations by mounting Taranis’ proprietary high-tech camera pod to ag aircraft. Although Taranis relies on satellites, manned aircraft and UAVs to provide images of various resolutions, Schlam said manned aircraft is the best vehicle to take aerial images due to its speed and altitude and told NAAA Expo attendees that ag pilots are ideally suited for this type of flying.

Taranis’ proprietary AI2 SmartScout Solutions captures 0.3mm/pixel resolution images of fields from planes and drones at a speed of 100 acres in 6 minutes. With this technology, Taranis states it can generate precise, leaf-level diagnosis 20 times faster than the manual alternative, and with 20 times more data points scouted. AI2 SmartScout Solutions also leverages a database of more than 1 million threat species to create accurate prescription plans to customize treatments and application rates.

In Taranis’ announcement of its latest round of funding, Schlam said, “Until recently, growers have had to wait on time-consuming manual scouting to assess threats, formulate an action plan, and react. Our ag intelligence service takes out the guesswork and brings hyperlocal, real-time insights from the fields to your fingertips. And we’re not stopping there. We have exciting programs in our pipeline which will completely change the reactive risk mitigation model of today, to an outcome-based approach informed by predictive threat thresholds and yield expectations.”

With this additional funding, Taranis may be taking the lead in the crowded aerial imaging spectrum, industry observers, including NAAA, noted.

 

The company’s investors are understandably bullish about Taranis’ prospects as well. “The agtech market will soon see consolidation around imagery with just a few strong players remaining. We firmly believe that Taranis will be leading the pack,” said Hock Chuan Tam, managing director of Vertex Growth. “With Taranis’ support, growers, retailers, cooperatives and crop consultants can detect, analyze and treat crop issues at their earliest signs, taking preventive measures with unprecedented precision and gaining a higher degree of control over their crop yield than ever before.”

To date, Taranis has partnerships with the leading retail, ag equipment and crop protection companies, including John Deere, Syngenta, Nutrien, Climate Corp. and BASF. Furthermore, Taranis technology has scouted more than 2 million acres of commodity crops across the world.

Bayer Loses California Appeal of Roundup Verdict, Yet Damages Considerably Reduced

Reuters reports that the crop protection product company Bayer failed to persuade a California appeals court to overturn a verdict favoring a school groundskeeper who claimed its Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, but the court reduced the amount of damages to $20.5 million. The new damages amount is far less than the $289.2 million a San Francisco jury initially awarded and represents an additional 74% reduction from what the initial trial judge had reduced to $78.5 million.

If the appeals court’s July 20 ruling is upheld, the verdict and payout could make it harder for Bayer to resolve lawsuits by other plaintiffs, Reuters reports. Bayer inherited liability for the lawsuits when it bought Monsanto Co., which had produced Roundup, for $63 billion in 2018.

Bayer said it may appeal to the California Supreme Court, calling the verdict inconsistent with the evidence and the law. Bayer has long said regulators have deemed glyphosate safe.

In related news, Bayer’s litigation to settle other Roundup claims by committing nearly $11 billion to a settlement may be in question due to a U.S. District Court judge threatening to reject part of the deal centered on potential future claims. As part of that agreement, Bayer has pledged to set up an independent science panel to determine whether Roundup can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma as the plaintiffs claim. If the experts can’t find a causal connection, new class members would be barred from suing Bayer. Out of the $11 billion settlement, $1.25 billion would be set aside to support the research and any payments to those who develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Memorial Available for Fallen Colo. Operator Josh Reid

Last week NAAA reported on the passing of Josh Reid of Springfield, Colorado, who was injured in an ag aviation accident July 10 and succumbed to burn injuries received in the accident July 14. More details are now available about Josh’s life and how you can make a memorial contribution.

Josh was the operator and pilot for Reid Aviation & Aerial Spraying. He was a Colorado native who grew up on a farm and ranch near Akron with four brothers with whom he had an incredibly tight bond. He decided against college and instead started his career as a businessman. Josh worked in trucking and construction before starting his ag aviation business with his wife Melissa. He also had trucking and fertilizer spreading businesses and sold seed.

He leaves behind Melissa, four young children, both of his parents, four brothers and numerous uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws, nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Josh Reid Memorial Fund at TBK Bank or People’s Credit Union.

TBK Bank

1030 Main Street

Springfield, CO 81073

(719) 523-6900

 

Peoples Credit Union

125 Main Street

Springfield, CO 81073

(719) 523-6250

Josh’s full obituary and a link to write an online sympathy card can be found here.

NAAA Ag Aviation Expo Attendee Registration, Booth Sales and Pitching in for PAASS Registration Now Open

We look forward to seeing you at the 2020 NAAA Ag Aviation Expo in Savannah, Dec. 7–10. Attendee registration is now open!  While the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo is months away, and an outstanding, substantive convention is planned, NAAA is also diligently working on plans to help with social distancing throughout our convention. We are also working with the city and our contracted facilities to understand their steps for additional disinfecting/sanitizing during our show. Learn more about NAAA’s procedures for a healthy and safe Ag Aviation Expo at AgAviation.org/healthyexpo.

Low-Time Pilot Registration

If you are an ag pilot with less than five years of experience or you are interested in becoming an ag pilot, we are offering a special price to attend the NAAA Ag Aviation Expo for pilots like you. Further details are available here (scroll down to the Low-Time Pilot Registration section).

Booth Sales

Booth sales are now open for the NAAA Trade Show. When it comes to agricultural aviation trade shows, it does not get any better than the Ag Aviation Expo, the World’s Largest Agricultural Aviation Trade Show. If your company is trying to get your products and/or services in front of ag pilots, the Ag Aviation Expo is the place to be!

Pitching in for PAASS

Pitching in for PAASS is a terrific social event with the added benefit of raising money for NAAREF and PAASS in support of the life-saving and environmental stewardship benefits those entities achieve. This is a fun corn-seed bag toss game, also known as cornhole, where players take turns throwing bags of corn kernels at a raised board with a hole. Join us for this friendly competition 7–10 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, at the Savannah Convention Center. Registration is now open! Pitching in for PAASS will be a March Madness style tournament that will follow the American Cornhole Association rules. Learn more here.

Other Programming Notes

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 James Bradley,  Author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys, Inspirational Historian and World War II Scholar
• General Session: Medical, Legal and Food Trends Affecting Ag Aviation – This session will feature substantive presentations about legal, medical and food trends occurring in the ag aviation nationally and how that might affect you and your business. Starting the session off will be aviation attorney John Wright, discussing a legal case he tried in Colorado between an aggressive state government agency and reputable, professional aerial applicators. Following rudimentary procedures resulted in a victory for our industry. Wright also provides complimentary legal services for NAAA. Next on the dais will be Dr. Stan Musick, aviator and AME, who will address numerous medical topics, including OTC drugs’ potency, fatigue and how to be granted a medical special issuance. Last but not least to take the podium will be Agri Marketing magazine publisher Lynn Henderson to discuss fairly radical changes in consumer food trends and how that may affect the aerial application industry. This General Session will be chock-full of information whether you are an operator or an ag pilot or a supplier to the industry.
• NAAA Trade Show – featuring 10 aircraft and an expected 150+ exhibitors. View the NAAA Trade Show Floor Plan to review the companies that will be visiting with attendees on the NAAA Trade Show floor.
  
• Aerial Application Research Technology Session and more than a dozen educational sessions where you can earn potential CEUs (additional details will be posted as they become available and CEUs will be available this Fall)
• Excellence in Ag Aviation Banquet honoring individuals and companies in the aerial application industry. 

Protect Your Privately Owned Airport, List it with the FAA

Richter Aviation First Operator to Support the Centennial Celebration of Aerial Application, Many More Sponsorship Opportunities Available

We Love Our Members! Your NAAA Support Has Resulted in Significant Accomplishments; Please Renew Today!

Renewals are now open for the NAAA 2021 membership year! You will soon receive your renewal form in the mail, but there is no need to wait! You can renew online today. As a member of NAAA, you associate with the best and brightest in the agricultural aviation industry and your support is imperative in helping us accomplish our initiatives. We would like to remind you of just a few new offerings NAAA has recently released such as:

• Ensuring your aerial application business and job is ESSENTIAL during COVID-19 and extending license expirations due to quarantine shutdowns. Check out our COVID-19 Resources webpage. 
• Offering legal services on Federal Transpiration Laws to Operator and Pilot Members.
• Receive the 2019 NAAA Operator and Pilot Survey Report which is chock-full of key statistics providing a healthy status of the U.S. aerial application industry. 
• We have an awesome 2020 Ag Aviation Expo planned for you this year! Hear from James Bradley, author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys. It is four days packed full of educational sessions where you can earn CEUs. Registration is now open!
• Don’t forget to take advantage of financial incentives such as NAAA’s Recruitment Rewards Program.
• Our 2020 NAAA Membership Directory has been mailed out. It is your one-stop shop where you can find professional members that might be looking for help or offering help and a plethora of qualified allied services in the industry.
• Stay up to date on the latest issues affecting your profession through the NAAA eNewsletter, Agricultural Aviation magazine and exclusive member resources online such as our Media Relations Kit.

NAAA is dedicated to protecting and advancing the needs of the industry by improving the public's perception of the aerial application industry and spearheading the industry's environmental stewardship and safety initiatives. If you haven’t gotten a chance to review all our accomplishments this past year in the 2020 NAAA Membership Directory, you can download our Annual Report.

 

We appreciate your membership as it will help us continue to fight and win to keep aerial application as an essential service during the current global pandemic and on important issues like unfair user fees and taxes; requiring tower marking requirements; and ensure the safe integration of drones into the national airspace; and advocating that EPA keeps a healthy inventory of crop protection products for aerial use without unnecessary restrictions. Your membership helps us better represent your interests.

Shine a Light on Our Unsung Heroes with NAAA’s Quick and Easy Online Awards Form

 

One of the highlights of each NAAA convention is the chance to honor a distinct group of the committed individuals and companies for their service to the agricultural aviation industry. Their stories are truly inspiring, making it a rewarding experience for the audience and award recipients alike. Receiving an NAAA Award is not a one-night or even a one-year honor, however. The significance doesn’t fade with time in the eyes of those members who have been fortunate enough to be honored by their industry peers for a job well done.

 

The aerial application industry is filled with exceptional people who go above and beyond the call of duty, often with little fanfare. So go ahead—make someone’s day, year or career by nominating him or her for a 2020 NAAA Award! Chances are you may have some extra time on your hands if you’ve been sheltering in place. Take advantage this unique interlude to help NAAA identify these unsung heroes. We’ve made the award nominations process even easier with NAAA’s new online awards submission form.

 

The new online submission form is the fastest and simplest way to nominate someone in just a few clicks, but the traditional PDF-based awards forms are also available options.

• 2020 Awards Nomination Online Submission Form (recommended)

• 2020 Award Nomination Form (Fillable PDF)

• 2020 Award Nomination Form (print version)

Completed entries using the traditional PDF forms may be emailed or faxed to NAAA at information@agaviation.org or (202) 546-5726 (fax).

 

There are nine NAAA Award categories and one NAAREF Award. The nomination deadline is Sept. 10, but early nominations are encouraged. The longer you wait, the busier you’ll be as the summer season approaches.

NAAA Award Categories

Agrinaut Award: Honors an agricultural aircraft operator, operating organization or allied member company that has made an outstanding contribution in the field of ag aircraft operations. The achievement cited shall have contributed to the “state-of-the-art” 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. This award no longer has carryover nominations from year to year; a new nomination must be submitted every year.

 

Larsen-Miller Community Service Award: Recognizes outstanding contributions by a member to his or her 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 2020 NAAA Award recipients will be announced in the fall and honored at the Excellence in Ag Aviation Banquet Dec. 10 in Savannah.

Received Your 2020 Membership Directory Yet? If Not, Let Us Know

By now all NAAA members should have received their copy of the 2020 NAAA Membership Directory. If you did not receive the new membership directory, please contact NAAA’s Marisa Beam at mbeam@agaviation.org to request a replacement copy.

 
NAAA is aware of a few instances where some members’ directory issues were misdelivered to another member in their state. The delivery mistakes were due to errors by the U.S. Postal Service in at least one regional processing center where workers neglected to separate at least a couple of bound stacks of directories grouped by members in the same state. Each copy was individually postmarked, but the delivery post office delivered the entire stack to the member listed on the top copy of the bound directories. Those members notified NAAA of the mistaken deliveries and graciously dropped off the individually postmarked directories intended for their neighboring members at their local post office for redelivery.

 

NAAA informed its printer of the delivery issues, which then notified the bulk mail center in Pennsylvania where the directory mailing originated. A USPS business service network representative acknowledged that the regional plant and local delivery offices appear to have processed the bundles in error. The USPS representative further stated that she had notified the regional plant and delivery office of the top recipients of the errors to address the issue of how to correctly process bundled pieces with their employees.

While these bundled misdeliveries appear to be limited to a few isolated instances, if you have not gotten your copy of the 2020 NAAA Membership Directory yet, please let us know and we will send a replacement copy. Although the delivery errors were beyond NAAA’s control, we apologize for the delay and want to ensure all members have access to this indispensable resource. Once again, if you did not receive the new membership directory, contact NAAA’s Marisa Beam at mbeam@agaviation.org or (202) 546-5722 to request a replacement copy.

Last Chance to Provide Accurate Data for Agricultural Aviation Industry, Please Complete FAA Survey

The Federal Aviation Administration’s 42nd annual General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (GA Survey) is coming to an end. If you are selected to participate in this year’s survey, you will receive either an email or postcard invitation to complete the GA Survey soon. You may complete the survey online, or a survey form will be mailed to you along with a postage-paid envelope. There are only a couple of weeks left to submit responses. Please complete the survey if you received one. It is important for us to collect valuable data about our industry to pinpoint our education and safety programs.

 

If you have three or more aircraft and have been receiving survey requests for each individual aircraft, the GA survey coordinators have created a shorter version of the survey that you can fill out for aggregate reporting to reduce the time required to submit a response.

 

Data from this survey are used by governmental agencies and industry to:

• Compute safety metrics, such as fatal accidents rates.
• Understand the impact of the GA industry on jobs, economic output, and investments in aviation infrastructure.
• Track the success of safety initiatives, including avionics recommendations.
• Determine funding for infrastructure and service needs.
• Assess the impact of regulatory changes.

Of particular importance to the aerial application industry is using the GA survey data to calculate an accurate accident rate for our industry, which is valuable for demonstrating the continuously improving safety of aerial application. To do that, the FAA needs an accurate tally of the hours flown in 2019. It only takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete the survey, which you can do online or on a survey form that will be mailed to you with a postage-paid envelope. Or, call Tetra Tech toll-free at 1-800-826-1797. The information is confidential and will only be used for statistical purposes and will not be published or released in any form that would reveal an individual participant.