FAA seeking Alaska info on drones

As it works to craft rules for drone operators, the Federal Aviation Administration is specifically asking for information about how the regulations would impact Alaska.

The proposed regulations would allow operators to fly small “unmanned aerial systems” during daylight hours so long as the drone stayed within the sight line of the operator.

The rulemaking process requires the FAA to accept comments on all aspects of the proposal. But a provision in a 1996 FAA reauthorization bill specifically requires the federal agency to consider how certain regulatory changes would impact Alaska, given the importance of aviation to general transportation throughout the state. Among the potential concerns is the daylight restriction, which could be impractical in Alaska, especially north of the Arctic Circle, where sunlight is a summertime luxury. “The FAA welcomes public comments with suggestions on how to effectively mitigate the risk of operations of small unmanned aircraft during low-light or nighttime operations,” the agency wrote in its public notice. The agency is taking comments through April 24.

The issue is one of immediate relevance to the North Slope oil and gas industry, which sees an economic and environmental benefit to using unmanned aircraft across the vast unpopulated areas of northern Alaska where oil exploration and development occurs.

In September 2013, ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. made the first approved commercial drone flight in the United States when it sent the ScanEagle aircraft on a 36-minute flight over the Chukchi Sea, where the company hopes to explore. The following summer, the FAA allowed BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. to use a Puma AE drone to survey the Prudhoe Bay oil field. In early 2014, the FAA chose the University of Alaska Fairbanks to be one of six public entities across the country to develop and operate drone test sites.

- Eric Lidji