Understanding spatial and temporal variation in plant traits is needed to accurately predict how communities and ecosystems will respond to global change. The National Observatory Ecological Network (NEON) Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) provides hyperspectral images and associated data products at numerous field sites at 1 m spatial resolution, allowing high-resolution trait mapping. However, the reliability of these data depend on establishing rigorous links with in-situ field measurements. We tested the accuracy of NEON’s readily available AOP derived data products – Leaf Area Index, Total biomass, Ecosystem structure (Canopy height model; CHM), and Canopy Nitrogen by comparing them to spatially extensive field measurements from a mesic tallgrass prairie. Correlations with AOP data products exhibited generally weak or no relationships with corresponding field measurements. The weakest relationships were between AOP Canopy Nitrogen and ground-based measures of Nitrogen, as well as the CHM and ground-based canopy height measurements. We also examined how well the full reflectance spectra (380-2500 nm), as opposed to derived products, could predict vegetation traits using partial least-squares regression models. Only one of the eight traits examined, Nitrogen, had an R2 of more than 0.25. For all vegetation traits, R2 ranged from 0.08-0.29 and the root mean square error of prediction ranged from 14-64%. Our results suggest that currently available AOP derived data products are unreliable, at least at this grassland site, and should not be used without extensive ground-based validation. Relationships using the full reflectance spectra may be more promising, although additional assessment of varying spatial scales of field and AOP data, as well as corrections and data pre-processing to improve data quality, are recommended. Finally, grassland sites may be especially challenging for airborne spectroscopy because of their high species diversity within a small area, mixed functional types of plant communities, and heterogenous mosaics of disturbance and resource availability. Remote sensing observations are one of the most promising approaches to understanding ecological patterns across space and time, yet the opportunity to engage a diverse community of NEON data users will depend on establishing empirical relationships with field measurements across a diversity of sites.