For the first time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized the commercial use of an unmanned aircraft in a flight over land.

A small drone called Puma AE, which was made by AeroVironment Inc, is now circling the area above the Prudhoe Bay oil field of BP Exploration Inc in Alaska. This marks the first time that an unmanned aircraft has been authorized to fly over land for commercial purposes, according to Los Angeles Times.

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The drone, which has been flying over North America's biggest oil field since Sunday, creates 3D models of roads and pipelines using its high-tech sensors. AeroVironment's five-year contract with the exploration firm could be a sign that commercial demand for drones would in the near future.

The Puma  AE takes off after it is thrown into the air and was initially made to give ground troops a bird's eye view of the things occurring in a place ahead of them, such as over a ridge. These drones are now on its way back to the US.

The US does not allow drones to fly except if the FAA has granted it special permission to do so. As the commercial demand for unmanned aircraft increases, the agency has begun easing back on its restrictions.

Oil and gas firms such as BP want to use drones to monitor their pipelines while moviemakers want them for recording action scenes. It has been speculated that Amazon.com could also use robotic aircrafts as their delivery vehicles and Domino's could use them for pizza delivery.

For now, the FAA is working on complying with a congressional mandate to fuse together US airspace and robotic aircraft by September next year. The FAA, however, has said that unmanned aircraft controlled remotely are not allowed to have a wider scope in the US airspace because they do not have adequate technology for detecting and avoiding midair collisions.