Do you have a rising pilot within your ranks? Do you admire certain NAAA members’ outstanding service to the industry or their community? The aerial application industry is filled with exceptional people who go above and beyond the call of duty, often with little fanfare. Make someone’s day or year by nominating them for a 2024 NAAA Award.
This week, Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced at their annual HAI Heli-Expo that the association is changing its name to Vertical Aviation International (VAI) to better represent the wave of expansion of new aircraft and technologies taking to the skies. The HAI Heli-Expo annual convention and trade show name will change to VERTICON.
The FAA has issued a new airworthiness directive (AD 2024-04-02) for certain Robinson R22, R44 and R66 helicopters. Reports of helicopters losing a tail rotor blade (TRB) tip cap prompted this AD. Robinson has also seen TRBs that have corroded to an unserviceable condition, including severe leading edge pitting and degradation of the bond at the tip cap. A debonded TRB tip cap can cause severe vibration and possible failure of the tail rotor gearbox housing.
The FAA has proposed adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Bell Model 407 helicopters with serial numbers 54832 through 54931 inclusive, 54933 through 54939 inclusive, and 54942 through 54954 inclusive with a fuel system standpipe assembly (standpipe) part number 407-062-032-103 installed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2021-13-07 (dated June 14, 2021) which applies to several GE Aviation Czech M601 turboprop engines. The original AD was based on the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD 2021-0125-E, and required recalculating the life of critical parts.
The 2024 Certified-Professional Aerial Applicator Safety Steward (C-PAASS) application is now open! This annual, individual certification for ag pilots, both operator and non-operator, serves to recognize a strong commitment to safety, professionalism and the pursuit of continuous improvement. Use it to positively distinguish yourself to insurers, customers, regulators and others outside the industry — and be a part of the force advancing safety, and changing the narrative, for agricultural aviation on a national level.
The results from the 2022 FAA General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey (GA Survey) have been released. Ag aviators flew a total of 831,999 hours in 2022, a reduction from the 924,037 hours flown in 2021. A total of 2,813 ag aircraft were used in 2021, which was again a decline from the 3,139 ag aircraft used in 2021. The average hours flown per aircraft remained relatively unchanged from 294.4 hours per aircraft in 2021 to 280 hours per aircraft in 2022.
Upon invitations from leaders in the remote pilot application aircraft space, NAAA participated in 2nd Annual Spray Drone End User Conference in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this week. The conference was well attended by both national and international uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) manufacturers (show DJI booth), UAS 14 CFR Part 137 certificate holders, and pesticide manufacturers—250 were in attendance with another 100 attending virtually.
This week, several small wildfires started north of North Platte, NE. NAAA Operator member Casey Williams of Arrow Aviation, Inc. in Broken Bow, NE, and NAAA pilot member Flynn Baker of Kearney, NE, stepped in to help douse the flames, and the fires are now under control.
After months of dedicated work, the NAAA team is rolling out an upgraded membership database system. This enhancement is aimed at providing you with better service and a more seamless web-based experience. The transition to the new database is already underway, and as a result, access to the NAAA Member’s Only section of the website will be temporarily unavailable for the next few days.
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