September 4, 2025 eNewsletter

GRASSROOTS ALERT: Your Comments to FAA are Urgently Needed to Oppose Requiring Manned Aircraft Provide Drones Right of Way

The aerial application industry is facing an existential crisis with the recent release of the FAA’s Beyond Visual Line of Site (BVLOS) proposed rule for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The reason for such concern is that the FAA has proposed that certain UAS operating BVLOS within 50 feet of shielded areas (powerlines and substations, railroad tracks, bridges, pipelines, etc.) be exempt from equipping with detect and avoid devices such as ADS-B In; AND would be granted right-of-way over manned ag aircraft. This means that agricultural aircraft (and any other aircraft operating in the low altitude airspace) operating near and passing through these shielded areas while applying to a field would bear the sole responsibility for detecting and avoiding a collision with a UAS operating within the shielded area.

FAA contends there is a low risk of a collision between a UAS and an agricultural aircraft flying near shielded areas because they claim agricultural aircraft do not operate near shielded areas. This contention is blatantly false – NAAA data and FAA’s own UAS safety research center data prove that aerial applicators routinely fly within 25 feet of powerlines when entering and exiting fields. This is the most dangerous provision of the proposed BVLOS rule, and NAAA strongly opposes it.  To review the FAA UAS BVLOS rule click here. The shielded area proposal would also negatively impact UAS making aerial applications.

Your help in submitting comments to the FAA is crucial to inform the agency of the marked amount of work conducted to protect cropland, forestry and public health around shielded areas from aerial spray operations, and the extreme danger that the shielded areas proposal poses on human life for manned ag aviation operations and aircraft equipment for both manned and unmanned ag aviation operations.

The proposal is presently available for public comment until October 6, 2025. NAAA is urging agricultural organizations that rely on aerial crop spraying, aerial applicators and state and regional ag aviation associations nationwide to comment on the dangers of this proposed rule. NAAA does recommend posting comments closer to the close of the comment period.  To comment on the rule, click here. Then follow the prompts to either directly write comments or upload them. Please reference: Docket Number: FAA-2025-1908 in your comments. A draft of NAAA’s comments may be found by clicking here.

Follow the NAAA format in drafting your own comments, such as using your own personal or company letterhead. PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE NAAA’s COMMENTS VERBATIM AND USE THEM AS YOUR OWN! Regulatory agencies give credibility to thoughtful, original comments and assign less weight to duplicative form letters. When drafting your comments, please emphasize the following points:

• Personalize your comments and elaborate on the geographical area in which you treat crops aerially, including acres treated, crops treated, number of farmer customers, value you contribute to agricultural production and public health protection, etc. in your local area (see pages 1-2 of NAAA’s comments on the scope, value and importance of the aerial application industry).

• Comment on the frequency in which you fly around shielded areas—from powerlines to railroad tracks to other utility lines—and the risk that would pose to you if certain drones could operate there without detect and avoid technology and they had right-of-way over your aircraft (see pages 3-6 of NAAA’s comments for the frequency and proximity that aerial applications operate around shielded areas from data from the FAA’s own Center for Excellence for UAS Research – Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE)).

• Reference the difficulty in visually observing drones as an aerial applicator and the severe handicap this would pose to you if you had to provide them right-of-way when they are not required to use ADS-B or any other detect and avoid technology (see pages 6-7 of NAAA’s comments on points covering the difficulty of crewed aircraft pilots sighting drones).

The way to effect absolutely needed change, which includes the elimination of the FAA shielded areas proposal, is to comment in great numbers with factual data.  That is what NAAA’s comments have attempted to do, but we need an active response to the FAA to emphasize the massive safety implications this proposal will cause. So please, please comment!  NAAA is also working on urging responses in opposition to this FAA proposed rule from other federal agencies and national agricultural and national aviation groups. If you have questions while working on your response, please reach out to NAAA for assistance.

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