Introduction:
As the utilities industry continues to adopt the use of unmanned aircraft systems, Soaring Eagle Technologies recognizes that the importance of fostering a strong safety culture cannot be overstated. Instilling a “safety-first” mindset promotes a proactive approach to identifying and addressing potential safety risks and ensures safety is embedded in every aspect of UAS operations.
The Challenge:
Like all aviation regulators, the FAA relies heavily on adherence to proven safety and reliability standards and documentation to evaluate an applicant’s ability to safely conduct extended BVLOS operations. An organization’s documented safety culture and adherence to aviation safety standards is a must to gain BVLOS approval. These standards were developed over decades of lessons learned in manned aviation continued airworthiness which have made aircraft safety what it is today. Documenting risk assessments, crew currency, training, and proficiency as well as UAS operations, inspections, and maintenance at the component level is the short list of requirements to prove a BVLOS operation can be conducted safely. A BVLOS applicant must pull all these items (and more) into a safety case to prove to the regulator they can conduct operations safely. Documenting all this information efficiently is challenging.
Consolidated Documentation
Component-Level Visibility
Predictive Maintenance
AlarisPro Safety Ecosystem (ASE™)
Custom Checklists and Risk Assessments
Aircraft Agnostic
What would Soaring Eagle recommend to others seeking BVLOS approval?
- Maintain a high degree of professionalism, stringent operational procedures, and commitment to safety
- Document and record adherence to standards, including those related to aviation, data privacy, and environmental protection.
- Document and record compliance with regulatory requirements to protect personnel, property, and the reputation of the utility industry.
- Leverage the features of AlarisPro to efficiently document all your crew, UAS, operations, and maintenance data to meet the regulator’s documentation requirements.
AlarisPro provides a comprehensive system to ensure any aircraft operated by Soaring Eagle Technologies is always airworthy. This provides us, and our customers, the assurance that our personnel and aircraft are qualified and compliant with all regulations, especially when operating beyond visual line of sight.
Implementing and adhering to established aviation methodologies is essential to ensuring safe and efficient UAS operations in the utilities industry.
The Solution:
As a customer of AlarisPro for years, Soaring Eagle's safety team knew they had what they needed to document their BVLOS proposal to the FAA. By considering each aircraft in the context of a system-of-systems (SoS), AlarisPro documents reliability at both the component and system level. With an established track record in aviation, safety, and technology, AlarisPro applies proven safety standards and metrics to implement a holistic approach to efficiently document all necessary information in an organized and concise manner.
- The AlarisPro Fleet Management Platform served as a critical piece of the audit process for Soaring Eagle's FAA approval.
- The platform provides recommended replacement, inspection, and preventative maintenance information.
- With a focus on safety and reliability, the AlarisPro platform provided the ability to consolidate all information in one place while maximizing fleet and crew efficiency and maintaining compliance with the FAA's requirements.
- The AlarisPro Safety Ecosystem (ASE™):
Provides reliable early warnings base on crowd sourced, de-identified data from an extended user base. Rapid distribution of service bulletins, airworthiness directives and related issues to prevent potential problems.
Results:
In October of 2022, Soaring Eagle received the first-in-industry FAA approval for unlimited distance utility power line inspection flights beyond visual line of sight. This waiver permits UAS inspections of critical infrastructure for clients without being bound by maximum distances usually designated in open-ended BVLOS authorizations.
Soaring Eagle UAS can cover large expanses of infrastructure on each BVLOS inspection flight - from 800 to 3,000 acres in a single day - resulting in time and cost savings to clients. Soaring Eagle has completed over 60 BVLOS missions across the country under special government interest waivers, which is more than any other drone inspection competitor.
Gaining one of the first non-geographically constrained BVLOS waivers could have been a much more challenging process but because we already had all our documentation in place, AlarisPro made it easy
About AlarisPro:
AlarisPro is an advanced operations and fleet management platform that provides operators and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with the tools and data needed to manage and document their operations and maintenance activities as part of a professional, safe, and compliant flight operation. AlarisPro utilizes proven aviation systems engineering principles to evaluate airworthiness and reliability. The AlarisPro fleet management platform has been adopted by a wide variety of commercial and government clients in a wide range of industries. The AlarisPro team works closely with each customer to provide a personalized service aimed at helping them to improve their safety and success.
Learn more at www.alarispro.comAbout Soaring Eagle:
Soaring Eagle is a minority and veteran-owned tech enabled UAS inspections company servicing the continental United States. Soaring Eagle is owned and operated by Houston-based Iapetus Holdings LLC, a privately held portfolio of energy and utility services businesses and alternative investments solving the world's most urgent needs around energy sustainability, efficiency, reliability, and safety. They offer a unique approach to infrastructure maintenance nationwide. The worlds largest utilities, commercial and industrial clients, trust the integrated solutions the Iapetus companies offer for tech-enabled infrastructure inspections, audits, safety, data and reporting.
Learn more: www.soaringeagle.com