New age of air support to oil & gas industry: unmanned aviation systems on Alaska's North Slope.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: OIL & GAS

From a distance, what looks like a toy plane is flying a few feet above the tundra alongside the web of pipelines radiating from BP Alaska's oil fields on the North Slope. The tiny aircraft flies low and straight, aiming an infrared camera at the pipeline while a group of people monitor it from a nearby gravel pad. When they're done, the aircraft lands lightly on the ground and is easily held by one person.

This is no hobbyist aircraft. It's a high-tech Puma AE operated by California-based AeroVironment on one of the first permitted commercial flights of unmanned aircraft systems in the United States.

"This is not a toy you buy in the store," says Steven Gitlin, AeroVironment vice president of marketing strategy and communication. "It's a highly engineered, highly designed piece of technology that is designed to perform to high specifications."

New Dimension Added

The high-tech aircraft are adding a new dimension to how BP is working in the North Slope's sprawling, often inhospitable terrain. Besides inspections, they are used for three-dimensional mapping, infrastructure maintenance, and are being eyed for wildlife management and other tasks. BP contracts with AeroVironment, which owns and operates the aircraft. The company was founded in 1971 and developed the first small unmanned aircraft system in the mid-1980s, according to Gitlin. Its unmanned aircraft systems are used around the world. (They are called drones by some, although that's a term many in the field find derogatory.)

"We believe this technology is really going to enable a lot of customers in a lot of places," Gitlin says. "It can enhance their productivity, enhance their safety, and reduce their costs."

And while they've been used for commercial purposes for less than a year--the first commercial flight was June 6, 2014--unmanned aircraft have been put to the test by the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, according to Director Marty Rogers.

"Alaska is in many ways quite unique from an unmanned aircraft perspective because we have a lot of airspace," Rogers says. "A lot of the science and research work that is going on, especially with the high emphasis on the Arctic right now, Alaska is a great place to do it.

"We have the largest university-based unmanned aircraft program in North America. We have the oldest university-based unmanned aircraft program in North America," he says. "We've been in continual operations for fourteen years, flying very difficult missions. Nobody has any kind of experience like we do flying in the Arctic. We have over one hundred aircraft and we do science and research...