Tracy Lamb, vice president of regulatory and safety affairs and chief pilot for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), recently warned industry leaders about unqualified commercial operators of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), stating some may have "a really fantastic website" yet possess limited stick skills and lack knowledge about standard operating procedures.
"These procedures have made safety a much more attainable, practical goal, because people don't instinctively know how to be safe," she said.
Lamb stressed the need for pilot proficiency to be practiced and tested often.
"Those controlled simulations are exactly what you need for your crews to be safe, because in a real emergency, you need to know how your hands are going to feel," Lamb continued, speaking on a panel at the Energy Drone & Robotics Summit held recently in The Woodlands, Texas. "You're nervous, and your situational awareness focuses in when you're trying to solve a problem. These things need to be well-rehearsed and almost second nature, and those standard operating procedures are really important in that situation."
Writing the standards
Since Barrett Walker, manager of the UAS program at Cheniere, also serves as chairman of API's UAS Policy Working Group, he helped produce the recently released Guide to Developing an Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program. The document that advises drone operators in oil and gas about Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, among other topics, is a project Walker said he is proud of.
"It is a great step in the right direction of the effective development of the UAS program for the energy sector," he said. "It is incumbent upon us as operators to continuously leverage other organizations and other standards to make sure that we're not only operating, but operating the right way."
Lamb also touted AUVSI's trusted operator program protocol certification manual.
"Actually, we reference the NTI (nuclear threat initiative) standards in the trusted operator program protocol certification manual because, along with many of the other standards and issues that are happening around the world -- not only in the United States -- these things didn't just fall off the back of a truck yesterday," Lamb said. "These things have been an industry consensus activity for a couple of years now, if not longer, at IOGP (International Association of Oil and Gas Producers)."
Lamb shared that the trusted operating program may be downloaded from AUVSI's website at no charge.
"Following the protocols, by default, you become aligned with many of these industry best practices such as the API standards," she said.
Accidents happen
Despite proficiency, adherence to standards, "and all of the technology and software and pilot training and simulations and everything we can do there, things can and do still happen," Walker admitted. "If you do this long enough, things are going to happen."
Walker recommended companies mitigate incidents by incorporating their UAS programs into the company's culture and response and safety programs.
"Use those opportunities to report them the correct way, investigate them and do a good recalls analysis," Walker said. "Report that stuff, and then bring that information back through your safety management system (SMS) so your incidence response is driven by your SMS.
"Take those lessons learned, so that next time something happens, there is a familiarity with it -- not only familiarity with the incident, but familiarity for your pilots and your program on the best way to respond."