Unmanned aerial vehicles (AUVs), also known as drones, are not what they used to be.
Once little more than flying, remotely controlled cameras, drones now boast an impressive list of capabilities that continues to grow.
John McClain, security specialist and chief drone pilot at Shell's Deer Park refinery, told BIC Alliance that examples of drone applications at the Houston-area facility include inspecting flare tips, testing metal thickness, looking for a block valve on a pipe rack, and detecting leaks with optical gas imaging (OGI).
"We've moved and pretty much replaced with drones anything at height as far as inspections," McClain said.
Moreover, he pointed out that drones enhance safety at a facility such as Shell Deer Park.
"Anything at height where you're doing your initial plan for maintenance or a new project, instead of having to build multiple sets of scaffold, crane rental, putting someone in a basket and … in the air, instead a video with a drone with a 4K video, that makes it safer," McClain noted.
McClain, who was instrumental in forming Shell's first local drone team, said the Deer Park refinery has taken the bold step of insourcing its drone program: using Shell employees to operate drones that Shell owns.
"Before that, what you had was third-party contractors that were previously vetted through the different aviation groups of the different companies that come in," he recalled. "And they were actually doing the bulk or, you know, pretty much 100 percent of the flying. Shell Deer Park took the lead. And where we are unique is where you actually have the employees of the company doing the flight of the drones, manage the drone, the maintenance, tracking all of the data and items like that."
The Turning Point for New Entrants
A regulatory action by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) four years ago provided the foundation for Shell Deer Park – along with myriad other facilities across various industries – to take its drone program in-house.
Landon Phillips, co-founder and chief operating officer of DataWing Global, told BIC the drone industry's dramatic growth in recent years stems from the FAA's 2016 adoption of the "Part 107" rule governing small unmanned aircraft.
"That was really the turning point in the industry that we saw," Phillips said. "Prior to that it required a lot of aviation experience and knowledge and certification to become a commercially authorized drone pilot. Now that we have the Part 107 regulations, that's really opened up the doors to a wide volume of new entrants into the market, and we're seeing all kinds of adoptions of new technology and implementations in very creative ways."
To be sure, Phillips noted that taking the FAA exam via Part 107 represents the baseline for operating drones for commercial use.
"That is only going to get you safe enough to be safe, you're not going to be efficient," he explained. "You're not going to be proficient in that process. And you're definitely not going to have the skillset to go collect data in an appropriate way that results in a good product at the end of the day, which is what we're all after is that good data product."
Phillips added that various entities are developing acceptability standards for data, along with flight and safety standards. For instance, he noted the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) offers a certification program that audits an operation based on longstanding aviation audit techniques. He said the AUVSI program is "pretty good from a standpoint of validating the safety and the risk of your program."
McClain pointed out that additional standards apply to drone usage in the oil and gas industry, noting that Shell Deer Park's requirements go well beyond those of the FAA.
"(F)or the FAA … the only thing you need to do to fly commercially is get your Part 107 certification and you are good to go," he said. "If someone came up to me and wants to be on my team and that's all they may have is a Part 107 certification, with my standards we have put on my own team and the standards I have to follow through Shell Aviation, they wouldn't be able to fly for me."
Before someone can pilot a drone at Shell Deer Park, he or she must undergo a week's worth of onsite training that combines third-party material and McClain's expertise.
"If they haven't got their Part 107 yet, the first day is Part 107 so they can pass the knowledge test," McClain said. "And the next four days is hands-on training with the drones. Putting them in service from planning the mission, your risk assessments, your preflight checks, putting … a bird in the air, gathering your data, landing it, doing your post-flight check, storing the data, putting the bird up, and make sure it's ready for the next flight."
Additionally, Shell Deer Park pilots go through an eight-hour training session every quarter as well as a year-end check flight re-qualification process.
"So it's an ongoing thing," McClain pointed out. "It's not a one week and done. It's a continual process."
He noted that Shell Aviation audits the program as well.
"They have their assurance pieces that we're keeping up with all our maintenance and different items like that just to make sure I don't have a pilot that's flown (just) once this year and we're still considering him a qualified pilot to be on the team," McClain said.
Although drone usage and capabilities have expanded greatly, both McClain and Phillips agree that many more changes lay on the horizon.
"(F)ive and even 10 years from now we're not even going to be recognizing what we're doing currently," McClain predicted. "You know, these drones are like your laptop. You get comfortable with one and the next thing you know the latest, greatest is out … Once the FAA regulation has evolved to where the industry is now, you can just imagine the explosion of technology that will follow."
Phillips said that drones will likely integrate much more automated or semi-automated processes, along with more robust artificial intelligence capabilities for data analysis.
"I also think that we're going to see a pretty big uptick in anti-drone, or drone detection capabilities in and around refineries," he noted. ""Because one of the threats that we do see on the horizon is a nefarious actor that wants to get access to either information at a refinery or even worse. I think that that's an interesting vulnerability that as a nation, as a country, as an industry, we're going to see that pick up as well look down the road in five to 10 years."
