UNITED STATES
INSIGHTS
National Agricultural Aviation Association
Increase Your Safety and Application Accuracy at the New PAASS Program by Scott Bretthauer, NAAA Director of Education and Safety
The 2021–2022 PAASS season is loaded with practical lessons to aid all of us in the industry.
B 2 | agairupdate.com
Upon the performance of each rests the fate of all. If you’re not familiar with this saying, you should be. It’s the PAASS (Professional Aerial Applicators’ Support System) slogan and is used to highlight the damage that a single negative incident can have on the entire agricultural aviation industry. It only takes one accident or drift claim to set off negative media attention and massive government oversight. That is exactly why PAASS was created: to help reduce ag aviation accidents and drift incidents. PAASS seeks to do so through education as opposed to more rules and regulations. PAASS has been successful at accomplishing this mission. Since PAASS began, ag accidents have been reduced by over 25%, and drift claims are also decreasing. At the time of this writing, however, 11 pilots have lost their lives flying ag this season. PAASS continues the effort to move that number to zero, but we need your commitment to do so. Attend PAASS this winter, learn about flying safer and more accurately, and make safety a top priority next season and beyond. The 2021–2022 PAASS season is loaded with practical lessons to aid all of us in the industry.
The program will begin with a review of the 2021 ag aviation accidents. The reason for reviewing this year’s accidents upfront is simple—it sets the main purpose for the next four hours of training: to stop accidents. Studying and learning from these accidents reminds us of what happens when safety is not a top priority. The lessons can serve to prevent future accidents of a similar nature. Accidents will be reviewed based on the suspected cause, aircraft type, objects collided with (for controlled flight into terrain accidents) and the state where the accidents occurred. PAASS will then cover the topic of inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions, or IIMC. IIMC is when a pilot operating under visual flight rules (VFR) inadvertently flies into weather conditions—most commonly fog in ag operations— requiring instruments. From 2011 to 2020, six IIMC accidents involved ag aircraft. Only one of those pilots survived, and PAASS attendees will hear from him so that everyone can learn from his experience. PAASS will cover how IIMC quickly leads to a degraded visual environment with a loss of all visual cues for coordinated flight. The loss of ➤
