The Arkansas Agricultural Aviation Association held their 2022 Spring Safety Meeting in Stuttgart and Jonesboro, Arkansas in March of 2022. A special thanks to the FAA FSDOs from Memphis and Little Rock for their participation. They both gave wonderful programs and added a lots of value to the meetings.
There were two specific questions asked at the Jonesboro meeting that were unable to be answered by the attending FAA Staff, which are relevant to ag operations throughout the country. The FAA has since followed up and those answers are below:
Q1. What is the policy for having a guest 137 operator help out?
Answer: The “host” and “guest” 137 operators must decide how they want to conduct business. The guest may choose to operate their aircraft and pilots under the guest’s 137 certificate. Or, the host may want to operate under their 137 certificate using the guest’s aircraft or pilots. Business arrangements are not the FAA’s concern, unless there is a DBA.
A part 137 certificate is nationwide. However, various State agriculture departments have requirements for out-of-state operators. Each state varies, but for example, California requires each pilot to be state-certified and Illinois requires each operator to have a “hard” facility located in their state.
If the host uses another operator’s pilots, 137.41(c) requires the PIC to have demonstrated the knowledge and skills of 137.19(e) to the host operator or their chief supervisor.
Q2. How to get ADS-B performance reports?
Answer: Performance reports can be found at the following link: https://adsbperformance.faa.gov/PAPRUsersGuide.pdf