The NATA VOICE - gonata.netgonata.net/images/voice_march_14.pdf · Chris Manthe FAAST Program Manager, FAA Larry Schulze is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agronomy and

The NATA VOICE MARCH, 2014 Website: http://gonata.net

Nebraska’s Aviation Voice Published by the Nebraska Aviation Trades Association, Judy McDowell, Editor

192 W Lakeshore, Lincoln, NE 68528—Phone/Fax: 402-475-6282, Email: [email protected]

Each year the Nebraska Aviation Trades Association presents its most distinguished award, Airman of the Year, to one of its members who has shown outstanding dedication and support to the agricultural aviation industry

Brian is the oldest of three children and grew up on a farm south of Tilden, NE. Brian and his wife, Mary, have two children, Ben and Brooke. His first solo flight was in March of 1996 and he earned his private pilot’s license in July 1997. In 2004 Wilcox Flying Service was created. Besides his many volunteer efforts, Brian has offered many years of service to the ag aviation industry as a member of NAAA, a Board member and officer of NATA and served as NATA President in 2012-13. Congratulations on this well deserved honor!

Nebraska Aviation Trades Association 2 Page 2

"Agriculture's Professional Funny Man,"

Damian understood our audience based on his ag involvement and having done other crop duster industry groups. He sent us out the door laughing and feeling very good after the Tuesday Awards luncheon. Damian's program was high energy, crowd interactive, with comedy and a powerful message sandwiched amongst the laughter with a little unexpected help from Luke Johnson. The NATA crowd loved Damian's funny, ag themed material and they respect his advocacy for the agricultural industry. There's no denying Damian's agricultural record - raised on a dairy farm, degree in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, owner and operator of a 200 acre beef, grain, and hay farm in Huntington, Indiana.


President, Tom May Vice President, Lanny Lambrecht

Secretary, Luke Johnson Treasurer, Scott DeLong


Ryan Lihs Casey Williams

Rob Aslesen Allison Donner


2013 Allied Rep

Tom Buss

United Suppliers

2014 Allied Representatives

(L) Rep, Dusty Knuth, BASF

Alternate, Eric Jobman, United Suppliers

Service to the Industry Award

(Met Tower Marking Video Production)

L to R—Larry Schulze, Mike Kamm, John Hay

And Brian Wilcox (not pictured, Alexi Brown)


To know Leif Isaacson, operator of Desert Air Ag in Terreton, Idaho, is to know he is chock-full of char-

acter. He is outgoing, knowledgeable, voluble and jolly. “

Isaacson’s gregariousness, passion for aviation, long-time career in agricultural aviation and impressive

résumé of serving this industry make it easy to understand why he was voted by the NAAA Board to

wield the president’s gavel this year

In addition to leading Compaass Rose sessions, Isaacson has volunteered in numerous other capacities

for the agricultural aviation industry,

He has served as a NAAREF board member, NAAREF Vice President, NAAREF OperationS.A.F.E.

Committee chairman, NAAA board member representing the IdahoAgricultural Aviation Association

(where he also served in all officer positions), NAAA Vice President and NAAA and PNWAAA Awards

Banquet Master of Ceremonies. The volunteer position in which he is most proud and passionate is serv-

ing as a PAASS presenter, which he has been doing since 2006.

Leif is a seasoned aviator and has flown an agglomeration of aircraft over the years. He is a CFI in air-

craft and gliders and is rated in rotorcraft and seaplanes. He flew hang gliders as an adventurous young

man off the Big Sur Coast in California. He has flown everything from Bensen gyrocopters to Air Trac-

tors all the way back to serial #11 to 802s in addition to many mainstream GA airplanes over the years.

NAAA President

Leif Isaacson

“We are crea-tive thinkers; we adapt—we can stay in tune with what ag throws at us, whether it is variable rate or unmanned aerial vehicles, if we remain creative and use it cor-rectly.” —Isaacson, on

aerial applica-

tors’ abilities to

capitalize on

new opportuni-

ties in the mar-

ketplace


BASF OPERATION SAFE SPONSOR

HONORS ALAN CORR

RECIPIENT OF THE EVANS-CHRISTOPHER OPERATION SAFE

AWARD AT THE NAAA CONVENTION


MONDAY RECEIPTION

RAMADA INN

COFFEE BREAKS

AGRISMART

DUPONT CROP PROTECTION

ROSEN’S

TUESDAY LUNCHEON SPEAKER,

DAMIAN MASON

SYNGENTA - Diamond

UNITED SUPPLIERS – Gold

BAYER CROPSCIENCE – Silver

FARM AIR - Silver

TUESDAY PRESIDENT'S RECEPTION

BASF - Diamond

CONVENTION SUPPORT SPONSORS

BOSSELMAN ENERGY

CSV AVIATION FUELS

FMC

HARDY AVIATION INSURANCE

JOHNSTON AIRCRAFT SERVICE

NATIONAIR INSURANCE

NORTH STAR AVIATION

TULSA AIRCRAFT ENGINES

WNATA

JET A USA


PAASS Presenters

Gaylon Stamps

And

Eric Klindt

The 2013-2014 PAASS Program celebrates

its 16th year of safety-education programming

Gaylon Stamps is a Native-Texan born in 1948. He was raised by a dad who in 1955 realized his own dream to fly, became a pilot and in 1963 launched Stamps Spraying Service. Gaylon began his flying in 1964 and earned his Private Pilot License in 1967. In 1972, after four years in the US Air Force he came home to take his place as a pilot in the family business. In 1975, Gaylon was handed the reins of the business when his father took a seat as a corporate pilot. Gaylon’s ratings include Commercial, Instrument, Multi-Engine and Flight Instructor. Over the past four decades Gaylon has trained six other ag pi-lots. His most recent trainee has been his son-in-law, Jason Davis, who just completed almost 2,300 hours and his fifth sea-son as an ag-pilot. Jason, his wife Carissa and their three chil-dren are the future of the family’s spraying service. In the past Gaylon has served his community as an alderman, a school board trustee, and a past president of the Rotary Club. Gaylon has also served on the boards of Texas Agricultural In-dustries Association (TAIA) and West Texas Ag Chemicals As-sociation (WTACA). He has long been active in NAAA and the Texas AAA (TAAA). He also is a member of the New Mexico AAA (NMAAA) and the Oklahoma AAA (OAAA). He is a past president of TAAA and currently serves as the Texas Director on the NAAA board. He currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer of NMAAA. In 2006 he was elected to serve on the NAAREF Board of Directors and is honored to have been se-lected as PAASS presenter.

Gaylon Stamps Eric P. Klindt

Eric Klindt grew up on the family farm in Minnesota and when the farm was sold, he worked for other farmers in the area. Eric attended the University of Minnesota at Crookston where he received

his commercial pilot’s license and aerial applicator training. He received his start in aerial spraying from David Yaggie where he started spraying in 1997 and has loved it ever since. Eric is em-ployed by Tri-State Air Ag in Wahpeton, ND, where he flies an Air Tractor 502. Eric stays busy in the aerial application off season with several jobs. He owns and operates a limo bus service and drives a truck in the winter for local farmers. He is currently a member of the Wilkin County Sheriff Posse. Eric is married to his childhood sweetheart, Shana, and they have two young children, Elise and Cody. Eric and Shana are members of the NAAA and the Minnesota AAA where they are the state representatives to the NAAA and WNAAA. Eric served on the NAAA board from 2002 until 2010 and served as Chair-man of the Membership Committee. He attended the Syngenta Leadership Training Group in 2002 where he realized how much is done by the NAAA and vowed to assist wherever he is able.


Jeff Halblaub

National Weather Service

Ryan Henry

Wind Tunnel Research Lab

The high speed tunnel is specifically designed for researching nozzles for aerial applications. It can reach wind speed up to 210 mph. The low speed tunnel, 48 x 48 inches square, is meant for spray drift research for ground rigs up to 30 mph. Chemical scrubbers and HEPA vacuums remove active ingredi-ents from the spray stream at the end of the both tunnels. Ryan indicated the University’s wind tunnel lab is one of only three in the world that is able to conduct high wind speed re-search on nozzles and spray drift for aerial applications. The unique feature about this lab is that it is the first commercial testing wind tunnel facility in the U.S. “The University’s renovated facility was re-configured and equipment was received for installation in late 2011 so that the lab was able to begin operation the following spring.” The lab has two wind tunnels within it. It is the high-speed tunnel that is built to replicate aerial application conditions and the low-speed tunnel is to research ground-based applications. UNL Research Technician, Annah Geyer, makes up the pri-mary team with Henry that is testing pesticide nozzles under varying conditions of wind speeds, nozzle brands and models, nozzle deflection angles, spray solution pressures, and adju-vants. “Most of the aerial nozzles are being tested at 110 to 160 mph, but the high-speed tunnel can produce velocities up to 210 mph,” she said.

At the 2014 Annual Convention, Jeff Halblaub, from the Na-tional Weather Service (NWS) office in Hastings, presented a summary of aviation services that the NWS provides, for the national, regional, and local levels. Nebraska is served primar-ily by five offices, and forecasters at those offices are responsi-ble for writing the Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) you are accustomed to using. While TAF content is driven by the needs of the commercial airlines, Jeff showed what went into how TAFs were written. He also discussed how the NWS pro-vides frequently-updated, hourly forecast information to aid pilots in aerial application, with more information than avail-able in the TAFs. Some of the parameters include temperature, dewpoint, wind speed and direction, and probability of precipi-tation. One of the exciting things Jeff announced was the com-ing addition of hourly ceiling and visibility information, which should be included later this year. This will allow pilots to have aviation-specific weather information for fields that are far

from airports which have TAF service.

Additionally, Jeff mentioned that the NWS in Hastings will begin generating TAFs for the airport in Kearney, which is the 4th busiest in the State. TAFs will begin sometime between

May 1st and 15th.

Take the time to contact and visit your closest NWS office. Go to weather.gov and click on your approximate location on the national map. That will take you to the NWS office that covers your area. Tours are available. You will get to see what is be-hind nearly all the weather information you use, whether it comes directly from the NWS or through a private vendor. While we do not provide weather briefings, forecasters at the NWS are available to answer questions you may have about the forecast. Call us! Our phone numbers are available at the bot-tom of each office's website. The great thing is we are local forecasters with expertise in Nebraska weather.


Dr. Larry Schulze

Alan Corr

Operation SAFE

Tim Creger

NE Department of Agriculture Chris Manthe

FAAST Program Manager, FAA

Larry Schulze is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska – Lincoln and a former Extension Pesticide Education Specialist. His ca-reer with UNL Extension included the administration and con-duct of the University’s Extension Pesticide Safety Education Programs for 20 years plus eight years as an UNL Extension Educator in Hall and Sarpy counties. He has taught pesticide education programming for 32 years for commercial and pri-vate pesticide applicators in Nebraska. In his retirement from UNL, he has continued to serve the Ne-braska Aviation Trades Association as their Communications Director and the teaching of their commercial pesticide applica-tor recertification programs

.In 2006, Alan accepted specialized appointment with UN-L Extension, with a focus on water education and irrigation man-agement in the West Central Research & Extension District, with his office located at Dawson County Extension. Alan re-ceived training and became a certified S.A.F.E analyst in 2005 and has since conducted numerous fly-ins in Nebraska includ-ing over 350 tests and 2,100 passes in the past 4 years.

Tim’s session included a Pesticide Regulatory Update with a enforcement recap (increased number of drift complaints, human exposure incidents, and fungicide applications over or near water), aerial pesticide business license update, legisla-tion update (LB636 and LR309), new “low drift” 2,4-D and dicamba tolerant crops from the regulatory perspective, and the move at EPA toward drift reduction technologies (DRT).

Chris received his private pilot certificate before going to Iowa Lakes Community College to earn aviation certificates up to Certified Flight Instructor. In 1989 he began working for Great Lakes Airlines, Ltd, flying the Beechcraft 1900 and Brasilia EMB-120. In 1997 he began working for the FAA as a safety inspector and in 2008 he transitioned to the FAA Safety Team, FAASTeam, promoting safety education and outreach.


Pasture and Range Weeds – Response after Drought

Recent drought events such as those in the Southern Plains in 2011 and throughout the Great Plains and Midwest in 2012 left many seeded pastures and rangelands in weakened condition. This included low vigor and poor reproduction of perennial grasses or actual death loss of desirable grasses. When more average precipitation and other ideal environmental conditions came together in 2013, the result was an explosion of weedy species across many pastures and rangelands.

Where do the weeds come from?

Many of the weedy species that flourished this past year were annual species growing from seed at or below the soil surface. Although viability of seed declines over time, longevity of seed in the soil seedbank can range from just two to three years for some species to 10 to 20 or even more years for others. In 2013, areas and rangeland types that saw the abundance of an-nual weeds had the ideal environmental conditions come to-gether for the germination and growth of these plants. This included the combination of precipitation, temperature, weak-ened pasture grasses, and an adequate seedbank. Many peren-nial weeds, western ragweed for example, also responded posi-tively to the greater precipitation observed in 2013.

Weed Control

Before implementing a weed control program, it is important to identify the target species and know its growth pattern and other characteristics such as whether it is an annual or peren-nial. For introduced or seeded grass pastures, herbicide use may increase desirable grass recovery and productivity. Man-agers might also evaluate the overall density of the grass stand and may consider complete renovation of that pasture or in some cases, use herbicides to control weeds and then interseed grasses and legumes to thicken the stand. There is a relatively good selection of herbicides that are effec-tive and are labeled for range and pasture. Different herbicides may provide varying levels of control on certain weed species, particularly for some aggressive perennial weeds. Carefully review herbicide information to find the best herbicide for the target weed. Herbicide application rate and timing is essential in obtaining satisfactory levels of weed control. These recom-mendations are found in the herbicide label. In many Great Plains areas, May and June is a popular time of year to target both annual and perennial broadleaf weeds. Her-bicide application in early fall is also effective for several per-ennial weeds.

Jerry Volesky Range and Forage Specialist University of Nebraska-Lincoln West Central Research and Extension Center North Platte, NE


Jane Pitlick, WNAAA, was scheduled to present The Athena Project, but due to weather conditions couldn’t make it out of the snow. SO, ever faithful and ready Randy Hardy substituted and did a great job. Special thanks to Lea VanBoening for planning the WNATA activities at the convention.

The Athena Project details how to strengthen client and customer relationships. This will be helpful to the wives who work in the

aerial application business and office workers because they are often the first people that clients and customers communicate with.






JET A USA’S

“ONE CENT REBATE

PROGRAM”

Since its inception in January 2013

contributions to NATA totaled

$2,024.01 for the year.

When a member of NATA purchases

jet A fuel from Jet A USA they con-

tribute one cent per gallon to NATA.

We appreciate this ongoing

commitment to the Association!

EPA Proposes Major Revision to Worker Protection Standard

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) un-veiled its latest revision to its worker protection stan-dard Feb. 20, the first major change since 1992. The changes proposed in EPA’s revision would, among other points:

� Require 25- to 100-foot no-entry buffer areas around pesticide-treated fields;

� Require pesticide handlers and early-entry work-ers to be 16 years old, with an exemption for farm owners’ immediate families;

� Require adoption of OSHA standard respirators along with record keeping to document compliance;

� Increase worker training regarding the safe usage of pesticides, including how to prevent and effec-tively treat pesticide exposure;

� Increase training and signage to inform farm workers about the protections they are afforded un-der the law;

�

Require employers to maintain pesticide application-specific information, labeling and safety data and make that information available to workers, handlers, or their authorized representatives.

EPA says the changes would cost industry between $67 million and $87 million to implement and main-tain. The proposed standard, once published in the Fed-eral Register, will be open for comment for 90 days. NAAA is currently reviewing the rule and will supply detailed information to assist members in the prepa-ration of comments on the rule. NAAA will be com-menting on the rule as well. Courtesy NAAA

2014 CONVENTION STATS

Members 161

PAASS 138

Spouses 20

Convention Only 21

Tuesday Only 10

Exhibit Booths 41

Exhibitors 81


EPA Federal Applicator Certification for Indian Country

EPA has developed a federal applicator certification plan that will allow the use of restricted use pesticides (RUPs) in Indian Country where were previously no legal mechanisms in place for such certification and use. EPA published the final policy in January, 2014, and posted most of the information about the policy at http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-applicator-certification-indian-country.

Who is responsible for getting a federal certificate issued by EPA?

Any applicator (private, commercial or non-commercial) who applies RUPs within the reservations boundaries of a recognized In-dian reservation will need a federal certificate from EPA. The ownership of the property does not change the requirement for federal certification. There are three exceptions to the policy: 1) if the applicator is a federal employee certified under a Federal Agency Certification Plan (FACP) and the area where the application will occur is covered in their FACP; or 2) if the applicator is certified under the tribe’s own EPA-approved certification plan; or 3) if there is an EPA-approved written agreement between the state and the tribe to allow the applicator to apply RUPs using a state certification. In Nebraska, only the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska has a written agreement with the State of Nebraska t accept state certification, the other three recognized tribes do not.

How does an applicator get a federal certificate?

The individual pesticide applicator has the responsibility to get a federal certificate. Applicators must fill out an application form and provide proof of a valid, current state or other underlying certificate to EPA Region 7. The underlying certificate must be from a state or tribe that shares a contiguous boundary with the area of Indian Country where the application will occur. Private applicators will also have an additional training option available to them that does not require an underlying certificate. The application form is available online at the website address above, and there is currently no cost to obtain this federal certification.

For six months after the plan becomes final (beginning January 28, 2014), applicators may apply RUPs under the plan in Indian country only for the categories for which they already have a valid state, tribal or federal certificate, and only if they have submitted a complete application to EPA Region 7 showing proof of a valid state, tribal or federal certification. Beginning six months after pub-lication of the final plan, applicators covered under this plan that have not received a written federal certification from EPA Region 7 are prohibited from applying RUPs in Indian country in the Region.

Are there additional training requirements for applicators beyond those required to obtain a state certificate? The plan has no additional training requirements beyond those required to obtain a valid, current state license, a copy of which would be submitted to EPA Region 7 along with the application form in order to obtain a federal certificate. Private applicators that choose the training option would have to complete the training requirements that will be described on the application form. Applicators are responsible for determining if a tribe has additional requirements for RUP application.

What if I have more questions related to the Federal Certification Plan in EPA Region 7? Please contact Doug Jones ([email protected] , 913-551-7592) or Dick Wiechman, ([email protected] , 402-437-5080) if you have further questions or would like to be added to the EPA Region 7 Federal Certification Plan email notification list.

Important to note, anyone applying in other states other than in our region will probably need to obtain

another federal certificate for those other tribal areas, since Nebraska would not be a “contiguous state

program” with the other tribe. A hassle, pure and simple, but something out of my control.

Tim Creger Pesticide/Fertilizer Program Manager

Nebraska Department of Agriculture

(402) 471-6882

[email protected]


Membership Application

2014

Lifetime Membership $1,500 $__________ 2014 Voting Membership - (Pt. 137/Owner/Operator/Pilot) - $150 $__________ 2014 Non-Voting Associate Membership (Non-Pilot/Employee) - $75 $__________ 2014 Allied Membership (Supplier/non-voting) - $60 per person $__________

Total Enclosed: $__________

20% of dues is not deductible due to lobbying expense

The following information will be used in the 2014 membership directory

Name________________________________________Spouse’s Name:_____________ Business Name:__________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________________ City____________________ State___________________ Zip_____________________ Business Phone:_________________________ Fax:_____________________________ Cellular:__________________________ Home:________________________________

Email:__________________________________________________________________

Make Check Payable to NATA

192 W Lakeshore Dr. Lincoln, NE 68528

Phone/Fax: 402-475-6282

Deadline to be included in the 2014 Membership Directory is

March 15, 2014

2014 DUES Due by March 15

Documents

The NATA VOICE - gonata.netgonata.net/images/voice_march_14.pdf · Chris Manthe FAAST Program Manager, FAA Larry Schulze is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agronomy and