US gives out first license to fly drone over land

The US today gave a commercial license to a firm to fly a drone over land for the first time, in an important step towards broader commercial use of the unmanned aircraft.
The approval was given by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to energy giant BP and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) builder AeroVironment to fly an AeroVironment Puma AE for aerial surveys in Alaska.
This is for the first time that the FAA has authorised a commercial UAS operation over land.
"These surveys on Alaska's North Slope are another important step toward broader commercial use of unmanned aircraft," the Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

"The technology is quickly changing and the opportunities are growing," he said.
FAA, in a statement, said it issued a Certificate of Waiver or Authorisation to survey BP pipelines, roads and equipment at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the largest oilfield in the US.

AeroVironment performed the first flight for BP on June 8.
The Puma AE is a small, hand-launched UAS that is about four and a half feet long and has a wingspan of 9 feet.
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 said.

Last summer, the FAA issued restricted category type certificates to the Puma and Insitu's Scan Eagle, another small UAS.
The certificates were limited to aerial surveillance only over Arctic waters.
The FAA recently modified the data sheet of the Puma's restricted category type certificate to allow operations over land after AeroVironment showed that the Puma could perform such flights safely, the statement said.
"The 2012 Reauthorisation law tasks us with integrating small UAS in the Arctic on a permanent basis," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
"This operation will help us accomplish the goal set for us by Congress," he said.