I'm curious, I currently work for a water utility and have been ask if I could use my p3 pro to do exterior inspections on our elevated water storage tanks. The problem as I see it, is that there cell antennas installed on most of these tanks in our system. I guess what I'm asking is, is this realistically a concern for me, or would I be safe in flying say within 50' or so of these things?
Cell towers
- Thread starter chutzler
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I've flown within 100' with no errors. At most, the signals could interfere slightly I imagine. just approach them with caution and back away if the drone gets funny.
I regularly within 30 metres of the one in town with no issues. One of the moderators posted some footage of a quad flying within a similar distance of some evil looking transmitters with no ill effects.
Problem with exterior inspections is detail. The Phantom cameras are rather wide angle. You have to get really close to a subject to get pics with enough detail to find defects, or leaks. That increases the danger of flying into the subject.
Thanks for the input. If I decide to go forward with this little project I'll definitely approach it with a healthy amount of caution! I'll have to order a set of prop guards as well for sure.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
Because the risks of putting someone in the air that high carry huge insurance costs. There's a high mortality rate among folks that climb radio towers vs the general public.
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Your company that you work for should pay for your training for the Part 107, as well as pay for your "additional" work which I'm sure was not in your job description. Make them pay, they really are trying to get something "great" for nothing. Remember, they don't know that technology, but you do.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
Maybe so. However this is a water tank inspection. They are limited in height due to the pressure head of the distribution. Optically aided ground inspections are the preferred method in S Fla.
I appreciate the input, any required licensing and other administrative stuff is WAY down the road from where I'm currently at. This was simply me inquiring as to the possibility of interference. We have tanks that range from 30' to over 160' in elevation. Last year we had someone put a bullet hole (unfortunately, not a one off occurrence) in one of the larger ones (elevation wise) and had some difficulty in reaching the particular location for inspection purposes (the welding company is quite a distance away and had requested photos of the damage if possible prior to their mobilizing equipment for repairs. I and some of my employees had just started thinking that this might be something that I could have at least got a quick and dirty look at the issue to develop a plan.
We do have a regular inspection program in place for our tanks. This was just something that we had thought about at that moment in time and tried to think of potential technical limitations and though I'd ask you good folks for information...I didn't mean to cause a stir.
We do have a regular inspection program in place for our tanks. This was just something that we had thought about at that moment in time and tried to think of potential technical limitations and though I'd ask you good folks for information...I didn't mean to cause a stir.
Meta4
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That sounds like a perfect application to use a drone for. Much simpler, quicker, safer and cheaper than the alternatives.
The P4pro would be ideal with much higher resolution images for better detail.
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