{"id":28564,"date":"2024-05-06T18:32:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=28564"},"modified":"2024-05-06T18:32:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T18:32:54","slug":"chevron-pipe-line-company-and-american-aerospace-technologies-to-fly-unmanned-aircraft-in-san-joaquin-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/california\/chevron-pipe-line-company-and-american-aerospace-technologies-to-fly-unmanned-aircraft-in-san-joaquin-valley\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Chevron Pipe Line Company and American Aerospace Technologies to Fly Unmanned Aircraft in San Joaquin Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Photo above &#8211; The AiRanger has been cleared for use in pipeline surveillance. (Photo Courtesy: Chevron\/AATI) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chevron Pipe Line Company (CPL) and American Aerospace\nTechnologies, Inc. (AATI) received a first-of-its-kind waiver from the U.S.\nFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct unmanned aircraft surveillance\nin the San Joaquin Valley. The AiRanger Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) was designed\nby AATI, a leader in intelligent airborne sensing and surveillance services for\nenergy and other critical infrastructure, to support Beyond Visual Line of\nSight (BVLOS) aerial surveillance for Chevron\u2019s pipeline and production\nfacilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Detect and Avoid (DAA) system\u2019s capabilities were\ndemonstrated during flight operations in Buttonwillow, California, in October\n2023. Following the demonstration and FAA observed testing, the Agency issued a\n91.113 Waiver and granted a 44807 Exemption (\u201cWaiver and Exemption\u201d). The\nWaiver and Exemption authorizes AATI to utilize the onboard detect and avoid\nsystem to comply with aircraft right of way rules when operating BVLOS. The\nAiRanger is the first UAS to demonstrate compliance with industry consensus\nstandards for the DAA system and reach this milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCPL and AATI have been on a journey since 2019 to develop\nan aerial patrol solution with technology that advances safe, reliable, and\ncost-effective routine facility inspections and pipeline system surveillance,\u201d\nsaid Stephanie Beveridge, president of CPL. \u201cThrough collaboration with the\nFAA, we are working to do just that in the San Joaquin Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AiRanger UAS is a fixed-wing, unmanned aircraft system\ncapable of long-range operations beyond visual line of sight. The aircraft\nweighs 220 pounds with a wingspan of about 18 feet and can fly over 700 miles\nand up to 17 hours at up to 17,000 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the first time, an unmanned aircraft weighing more than\n55 pounds that flies above 400 feet and beyond visual line of sight has been\napproved for commercial operations in the U.S. This initial Waiver and\nExemption spans over 4,000 square miles at up to 8,000 feet MSL, opening a new\nera in unmanned aviation in the National Airspace System,\u201d said David Yoel, CEO\nof American Aerospace Technology, Inc. \u201cThe AiRanger is a new type of platform\ndue to its large scale and the range of operations it enables. Its intelligent\nsensors and real-time communications deliver actionable data at a scale that\nwas previously unimaginable. With safety as our guiding principle, we look\nforward to expanding AiRanger operations across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCPL operates approximately 3,000 miles of regulated\npipelines nationwide. The AiRanger UAS beyond visual line of sight operations\nwill help transform routine oil and gas pipeline surveillance and inspections\nrequired by the Department of Transportation\u2019s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration (PHMSA) using automated intelligence solutions,\u201d said Roy\nMartinez, project manager for the UAS initiative and digital advisor for\noperations in CPL. \u201cCPL\u2019s coordinated efforts with the FAA and AATI to deploy\nthis program is just one example of how Chevron continues to work with federal\nagencies to explore and implement emerging technologies to further Chevron\u2019s\npurpose of developing the affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy that\nenables human progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CPL and AATI have been supported by End State Solutions,\nLLC, to build collaborative solutions with key regulatory agencies that enable\nsafe operations for emerging technology and new uses for autonomous aerospace\ntechnology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo above &#8211; The AiRanger has been cleared for use in pipeline surveillance. (Photo Courtesy: Chevron\/AATI) Chevron Pipe Line Company (CPL) and American Aerospace Technologies, Inc. (AATI) received a first-of-its-kind waiver from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct unmanned aircraft surveillance in the San Joaquin Valley. The AiRanger Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,116,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-california","category-front-page-slider","category-unmanned-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/AiRanger-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28566,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28564\/revisions\/28566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}