With spraying beginning, drone operators should be cautious

Agricultural aviators like Chad Hendricks at Hendricks Flying Service of Grant, Nebraska, apply crop protection products to approximately 28% of all cropland nationwide to protect consumers’ food, fiber and biofuels from pests and diseases. However, ag aviators like Hendricks are also concerned about their protection from unmanned aircraft, or drones, as they are more commonly known.

With a 400-foot legal ceiling on drone flights, agricultural aviators are asking anyone who flies drones near areas where planes are flying to be extra cautious, Hendricks said. 

Ag aviators help to bring down the cost of Americans’ food, clothes and gasoline and ensures most Americans have an abundance of healthy foods conveniently available to them. The agricultural aviation industry also uses aircraft to fight fires nationwide, protect public health by spraying for mosquitoes, and protect the environment by killing invasive species and weeds that could dam rivers and streams.

Much of this work is done by flying just 10 feet above the ground, and all of it is done at 500 feet or below.

Hendricks said, “Safety is our primary concern with drones. This is a new hazard for pilots like me who work in low-level airspace, and we want to avoid an unwanted encounter with an unmanned aircraft at all costs.” 

While agricultural aircraft are clearly visible with a 60-foot wingspan and loud engine, unmanned aerial vehicles can’t be seen while flying over a field at 140 mph. That’s why all UAV users should follow the law and steer clear of manned aircraft, he said.

When certain birds hit an ag aircraft, they can break through an aircraft’s windshield and down an aircraft. An unmanned aircraft made of more than feathers, hollow bones and sinew, has the potential to be even more deadly.

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