The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared Skyways to conduct a drone flight from Louisiana to an offshore Gulf platform for pipeline inspection and a simulated equipment delivery.
In its Nov. 9 announcement, the FAA said the planned operation would connect a Shell facility in Gibson, Louisiana, with a Shell platform in the Gulf of America. The aircraft would inspect a pipeline right-of-way and simulate taking equipment offshore. No flight date has been announced.
The FAA said it had not previously authorized an operation of this kind over the Gulf. The approval came through Section 927 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which provides a waiver pathway for certain unmanned aircraft operations. Agency guidance says applicants must demonstrate either that a proposed operation would leave safety unaffected or that its safeguards would be at least as strong as those in the rule being waived.
The FAA’s general high-seas guidance says operations may qualify when they take place more than 12 nautical miles from the United States and outside another country’s territorial airspace. That guidance does not set the conditions for this specific flight.
Skyways says its V2 uses electric motors for takeoff and landing, a heavy-fuel engine during cruise and satellite links for command and control. The company said it had logged about 90,000 kilometers across 3,500 autonomous flights worldwide. Skyways described the mission as an extension of Shell Pipeline Company LP’s existing high-seas drone program and previous pipeline inspection work.
Skyways said the approval could support more frequent Gulf inspections and cargo flights for compensation, but gave no schedule or target number. Charles Acknin, co-founder and CEO of Skyways, said it “opens up a much larger operating envelope for us in the US.”
Wesley Stewart, president of Shell Pipeline Company LP, said the waiver could streamline offshore inspections, maintenance and logistics. He also said the operation could make pipeline transportation safer, more efficient and cost-effective; no savings estimate was given. The next milestone is the demonstration flight, whose date has not been announced.
