Picture of the Puma AE
In the words of famed, fictitious race car driver Ricky Bobby: “if you ain’t first, your last.” Future commercial drone users might prefer to come in second, but first place belongs to BP, as they received the first ever FAA clearance to fly a drone over domestic land for commercial purposes. While ConocoPhillips was approved for a drone flight towards the end of last year, that flight was only approved over water.
Don’t think this is going to cause widespread changes just yet. As the article points out, BP had to comply with very strict standards and policies in order to get approval. Still, they received FAA approval and their Puma AE drone and its 9.2 foot wingspan was up and flying on June 8. Strict guidelines or not, this approval is definitely a big development in the future of commercial drone use.
(Picture directly from Aerovironment website (the company that produces the Puma AE))
(h/t to my father, Roger Hannah, for alerting me to this story)
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