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Tag: commercial drones
FAA For The First Time OKs Commercial Drone Flights Over Land

FAA For The First Time OKs Commercial Drone Flights Over Land

By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Marking a milestone for the industry, Monrovia, California, drone maker AeroVironment Inc. has announced a contract to use an unmanned aircraft to perform routine commercial services over land in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

The company’s small drone, called Puma AE, is now scouring BP Exploration Inc.’s Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, a first under FAA authorization.

As the U.S. Navy moves toward developing its first fleet of aircraft carrier-based combat drones, a dogfight has broken out in Washington over the direction of the program.

“These surveys on Alaska’s North Slope are another important step toward broader commercial use of unmanned aircraft,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “The technology is quickly changing, and the opportunities are growing.”

Since Sunday, the drone has been flying above the largest oil field in North America using high-tech sensors to create 3-D computerized models of roads, pads and pipelines for industrial applications.

The five-year contract could be a sign of things to come as drone technology becomes more advanced and demand increases from police agencies and others for using drones in the commercial world.

Melanie Hinton, spokeswoman for Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the nation’s largest drone trade group, said the milestone is “an exciting moment in the integration process.”

Drones “have proven adept at safely and effectively performing aerial surveys, and can be an effective tool for the oil and gas industry,” she said. Hinton said her group believes that more needs to be done to allow for such operations, with limits.

The Puma, which takes off after being thrown into the air, was originally designed to give troops on the ground a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening over a ridge or around a bend.

In one mission for BP, the AeroVironment drone assisted drivers moving 3.5-million-pound drill rigs on tight roadways in low-visibility conditions by giving them high-resolution 3-D models of the road ahead.

“This is an important achievement for our joint team and for the industry in demonstrating the safe and effective use of our proven UAS technology for commercial applications,” AeroVironment Chief Executive Timothy E. Conver said in a statement.

AeroVironment is the Pentagon’s top supplier of small drones — including the Raven, Wasp and Puma models. But the company, which makes drones in its Simi Valley facilities, has seen sales decline as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to a close.

Hoping for new revenue streams, AeroVironment has been waiting for the FAA to allow drones to fly for commercial purposes here at home.

Currently, drones are not allowed to fly in the U.S. except with special permission from the FAA. As demand increases from commercial industries, though, the agency has moved to ease restrictions.

Oil and gas companies such as BP want to utilize them to keep an eye on their pipelines. Moviemakers want to use drones to film action scenes. The idea of using robotic aircraft as transport vehicles has been discussed as a way to deliver books for Amazon.com and pizza for Domino’s.

The FAA is working to meet a congressional mandate to integrate U.S. airspace with robotic aircraft by September 2015.

However, the prospect of thousands of unmanned aircraft flying around U.S. airspace in populated areas beginning at that time appears unlikely. The FAA has said that remotely piloted aircraft aren’t allowed in national airspace on a wide scale because they don’t have an adequate “detect, sense and avoid” technology to prevent midair collisions.

Last summer, the FAA gave away two first-of-their-kind certificates that permitted operators to fly drones for commercial purposes. However, they were in remote areas over water.

The oil field at Prudhoe Bay is in the northernmost part of Alaska, near the Beaufort Sea. There, AeroVironment’s Puma, which has a wingspan of about 9 feet, flies at 200 to 400 feet above ground level for up to 3.5 hours at a time.

“This technology will help BP optimize the planning and implementation of maintenance programs for the North Slope infrastructure throughout Prudhoe Bay,” said Dawn Patience, a BP spokeswoman. “Targeting maintenance activities on specific road areas will save time, and address safety and reliability.”

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb

FAA Under Pressure To Allow Commercial Drones

FAA Under Pressure To Allow Commercial Drones

By Daniel Rothberg, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — It seems like a perfect time to get into the drone business.

With easy access to technology and patchy regulation, small commercial drones already have been used to film box-office hits and market expensive real estate.

Internet retailer Amazon is testing its sixth generation of an unmanned aircraft system that could one day whisk packages to customers within hours. With big corporations like FedEx and Domino’s Pizza flirting with the technology, law firms, trade groups and insurers are lining up to capitalize on an expected economic gold mine.

There’s only one catch: Commercial drones are illegal.

In a 2007 policy statement, the Federal Aviation Administration essentially declared a ban on operating drones for commercial purposes. The agency doubled down on that position in early April, appealing an administrative order that tossed out the legal foundation for its policy. The ruling came after a commercial drone user challenged an FAA fine levied against him.

The ongoing case and mounting pressure to tap into the potentially lucrative industry puts the FAA in a tough spot. The regulatory body, responsible for keeping U.S. airspace safe, plans to propose a rule for commercial drones by the end of the year. But regulations aren’t likely to be final until 2015 at the earliest, leaving some wondering whether the FAA can catch up to an industry already half past go.

“I don’t think there’s any question that market pressure is intense and the FAA is struggling on the regulatory side to keep up,” said James H. Burnley, a former U.S. transportation secretary and a Washington attorney.

Much of the commercial interest is focused on small drones — those that weigh less than 55 pounds, fly less than 400 feet high and often remain within the operator’s line of sight. Many look no different from toy helicopters.

But from a regulatory standpoint, integrating these drones into the national airspace is a complicated challenge that must reconcile changing technology with safety concerns, including how to keep the drones from crashing into manned aircraft or causing damage or injury as they land.

“We really want to get it right the first time,” said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

The FAA has certified more than 600 public-sector entities to fly drones, mostly law enforcement agencies and universities. It announced last month that the first of six national sites for commercial drone testing was ready in North Dakota.

But to date, the agency says it has made only one exception to its commercial ban, allowing oil company ConocoPhillips to survey marine mammals and ice in the Arctic.

Commercial drone advocates say the agency is taking too long. Thirty-three industry groups, including the National Ski Areas Association and National Sunflower Association, are urging FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to expedite the approval process, citing a nearly four-year delay on its small-drone rule.

“The current regulatory void has left American entrepreneurs and others either sitting on the sidelines or operating in the absence of appropriate safety guidelines,” they wrote in an April 8 letter.

Some businesses aren’t waiting for the FAA rules to be completed. A Minnesota-based beer company made an online commercial that featured a drone transporting its “frosty winter lager” to some expectant ice fishermen.

Weeks later, a Detroit flower company announced plans to drone-deliver roses on Valentine’s Day. In March, the Washington Nationals sent up a drone to catch the baseball team’s spring training on tape.

Several large law firms have launched drone practices, and there’s even a fledgling insurance market. Nationwide Insurance’s agricultural subsidiary is offering liability coverage to a handful of customers who use small drones in their farm operations, an underwriting director confirmed.

Amazon told shareholders in April that it’s continuing to test the “octocopter” that it unveiled in December, saying it will be ready to roll out drone delivery service as soon as the FAA gives its OK.

Although even unauthorized testing of commercial drones is prohibited under the FAA policy and the agency regularly notifies operators when it discovers a violation, weak enforcement has often left businesses flying in an air of uncertainty. For many, the crime outweighs the punishment.

“If you wait until the FAA passes its rule, you will be too far behind,” said Jerry LeMieux, a retired Air Force colonel who serves as president of the Unmanned Vehicle University, an Arizona-based academy for unmanned systems engineering. “The time to get in is now.”

To date, the FAA has issued only one fine for an unauthorized commercial drone flight. It wrote a letter ordering the Minnesota beer company and the Detroit florist to cease their activities. But the agency learns about most violations only from reports in the media, tips from rival businesses or when companies film their drone flights and post them on YouTube.

“There is a perception, largely correct, that (operators) are unlikely to get caught, and if they do get caught, there aren’t going to be significant consequences,” said Timothy Reuter, a drone enthusiast in Washington who created a network of local groups to highlight the benefits of civilian use.

Hollywood has an especially rich history of using unmanned aircraft. In 1995, the company Flying-Cam won an Oscar for developing an unmanned helicopter system equipped with a camera. Before the FAA ban, Flying-Cam shot more than 80 films in the U.S., according to its director of operations, Haik Gazarian.

Now it shoots advertisements and films (recent titles include Skyfall and The Hangover) on sets overseas, where commercial drone flight is often permitted. Likewise, Domino’s tested its drone in Britain.

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb