Grants ConocoPhillips Permission To Conduct Environmental Surveillance Work This Summer

The FAA has granted a waiver to Boeing subsidiary Insitu to conduct UAV flights in northern Alaska this summer.

The waiver allows Insitu to operate three ScanEagle aircraft in the region to conduct environmental surveillance for ConocoPhillips, according to a report from the Puget Sound Business Journal. Insitu says it plans to deploy as many as nine of the civilian variant of the aircraft in the region this summer, according to the report.

Insitu associate vice president of government relations Paul McDuffee told the paper that the waiver is a "baby step, we want to build on that, that's the plan for the rest of 2014 and beyond." He said the Boeing subsidiary agrees with the FAA's current process for regulating commercial use of UAVs the agency says is predicated entirely on safety.

The energy company will use the UAVs will track ice pack movements and marine mammal migration in Alaska, according to the report.

(ScanEagle pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.faa.gov