The US Federal Aviation Administration has granted the first authorisation for overland unmanned air system (UAS) operations in the USA to BP and AeroVironment, with the latter’s Puma AE aircraft.
This Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) was utilised for the first time on 8 June, when energy company BP flew the Puma AE to survey the largest oilfield in the USA, at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The move is an extension of an FAA decision last year, when it issued restricted category type certificates to the Puma AE and Insitu Scan Eagle UAS, allowing them to be flown in surveillance roles over Arctic waters.
The approval was then revised for the Puma AE, allowing overland operation after AeroVironment demonstrated the type's capability to carry out these additional flights, the FAA says.
AeroVironment
Under the FAA’s 2012 Reauthorisation Bill, the administration mandated that the process by which UAS were granted COAs to fly in national airspace be streamlined. This move came alongside a declaration that Arctic operations and small UAS flights would be the first to be integrated.
In parallel with being granted the COA, on 10 June BP announced it had contracted AeroVironment to provide routine UAS services over the site in Prudhoe Bay. This includes the provision of mapping and geographic information data, as well as other commercial information services, to monitor BP’s pipelines, roads and equipment.
The company will deploy the Puma AE equipped with either a light detection and ranging sensor or its standard electro-optical/infrared sensor payload. This data will then be used for 3D computerised models of roads, pads and pipelines.
The Puma AE is approximately 1.4m (4.6ft) long with a 3.5h endurance and wingspan of 2.7m. The UAS’s ability to fly low and slow – at 2,400ft above ground level and at speeds of less than 40kt (74km/h) – will help provide BP with accurate information to help manage the site, AeroVironment notes.
"Using the information generated by the Puma’s sensors, BP hopes to target maintenance activities on specific roads and infrastructure, which will save time and support safety and operational reliability goals, while helping to protect the sensitive North Slope environment," the FAA says.
BP has previously trialled a number of unmanned technologies, including the Aeryon Scout vertical take-off and landing UAS and unmanned maritime platforms.
Source: Flight International
