For districts, agencies & dam owners

Drone Dam & Levee Inspection

Drone inspections from $175 near you

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Concrete arch dam in a desert canyon
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Free to post · Usually a reply the same day

219 inspection pilots listed · Pay the pilot directly, no commission

Independent FAA Part 107 pilots who cover your area quote and fly the job.

Free to post

Two minutes, no card, no commitment.

Pay the pilot directly

No commission or markup on their price.

FAA Part 107 pilots

The license all paid drone work requires.

Usually a reply the same day

From a pilot, or from our team if no pilot has answered.

How it works

Three steps, and the first one is free

  1. Describe the job

    The form opens with this page's answers already filled in. Add the location and anything specific to your site.

  2. A pilot near you sends a price

    Pilots whose service area and services match are emailed. Usually a reply the same day, from a pilot or from our team.

  3. Book them and pay them directly

    Check their certificate, kit and sample work, then pay the pilot. SkyLog takes no cut and adds no markup.

What to know before you book

What an aerial survey looks for

On embankments: erosion and scour, particularly at the toe and at transitions; rutting, animal burrowing and vegetation that should not be there; slumping, cracking and any sign of slope movement; wet spots, boils and seepage on the landward side; and the condition of any armouring, riprap or revetment. On concrete structures: cracking, spalling, and the state of joints, spillways, stilling basins and outlet works. On both: the condition of crest and access roads, gates, valves and their housings, penetrations through the embankment, instrumentation and monitoring points, and debris accumulation at inlets and trash racks. And the surroundings — encroachment, unauthorised excavation and structures on or near the embankment, which is a live issue on most levee systems.

Survey products beyond photographs

For this asset class the mapping deliverables often matter more than the imagery. A photogrammetric surface model of an embankment, repeated over time and differenced, shows settlement and slope movement that no photograph reveals. Contours and cross-sections along a levee support freeboard assessment against design. Volumes quantify erosion loss or the material needed to restore a section. Where the embankment is vegetated — and most are — LiDAR is the honest answer, because photogrammetry maps the grass rather than the ground beneath it, and on a structure whose whole geometry is the point that distinction is not academic. Decide early whether you are commissioning a condition survey with photographs or a monitoring survey with a surface, because they are different flights.

Regulatory reality

Dam safety is regulated, and the regimes are specific about inspection frequency, about who is qualified to carry out and sign an inspection, and about what a formal safety evaluation involves. Aerial survey does not satisfy those requirements and no honest provider will tell you it does. Where it fits is in between: routine monitoring, condition documentation across a system too large to walk often, rapid assessment after a high-water event or an earthquake, evidence to support a funding case, and better information for the engineer who does sign the inspection. If your survey is intended to feed a regulated process, involve the qualified engineer in specifying it — their requirements govern what gets captured and in what form.

Scoping it

Give the structure type and its length or height, and say whether this is scheduled monitoring or a response to something — seepage observed, a high-water event, an earthquake — because urgency and scope both change. Say whether you need imagery, a surface model, or both, and whether vegetation is heavy enough that LiDAR is the right tool. Say if thermal is wanted for seepage indication, and note that it needs the right conditions and time of day to mean anything. Flag access and airspace, and flag any part of the structure that is over or adjacent to water, since that limits recovery options. If this is the first of a monitoring series, tie it to permanent control from the outset so later surveys can be differenced against it properly.

What this settles

  • On embankments: erosion and scour at the toe and transitions, rutting, burrowing, slumping and cracking, wet spots, boils and seepage, and armouring condition.
  • On concrete: cracking, spalling, and the state of joints, spillways, stilling basins and outlet works.
  • Crest and access roads, gates and valves, penetrations, instrumentation, and debris at inlets and trash racks.
  • A surface model repeated and differenced over time, which shows settlement and slope movement no photograph reveals.

What it does not

  • Satisfy dam safety regulation. The regimes are specific about frequency, about who is qualified to sign, and about what a formal safety evaluation involves.
  • Map the ground under vegetation — and most embankments are vegetated, so photogrammetry maps the grass. That is a LiDAR job.
  • Indicate seepage thermally without the right conditions and time of day.
  • Be differenced against later surveys unless the first one is tied to permanent control.

Decide early whether you are commissioning a condition survey with photographs or a monitoring survey with a surface. They are different flights.

Why post it on SkyLog

Miles of embankment, systematically

A levee system is measured in miles and walked in days. An aerial survey covers it consistently in one exercise and produces something you can compare against the last one.

Seepage often shows thermally

Water emerging through an embankment is frequently at a different temperature from the surface around it, so a thermal pass can indicate seepage that is not yet obvious to the eye.

Available during high water

The time you most want to look at a levee is the time it is least safe to walk it. An aircraft can survey a structure under load from the dry side.

Free to post

Posting and receiving quotes costs nothing, and SkyLog takes no commission and adds no markup. You pay the pilot you hire, at the price the two of you agree.

Inspection pilots with published profiles

Real published profiles. Open any one to see credentials, kit, service area and sample work before you post.

Inspection pilots by state

Before you post

Does this satisfy our dam safety inspection requirement?

No. Dam safety regimes specify frequency, qualified personnel and what a formal evaluation involves. Aerial survey supports routine monitoring and gives the engineer who signs the inspection better information — scope it with them.

Can it detect seepage?

It can indicate it. Emerging water is often at a different temperature from the surrounding surface, so a thermal pass in the right conditions highlights areas worth investigating. It is an indicator, not a measurement, and it needs confirming on the ground.

Can we monitor settlement over time?

Yes, by capturing a surface model and differencing successive surveys. That requires proper ground control and a consistent method — and on a vegetated embankment it requires LiDAR rather than photogrammetry to reach the actual ground.

How much does it cost?

It scales with the length of the structure and with whether you need survey-grade products or condition imagery. Inspection quotes on SkyLog have ranged $100 to about $1,550 with a $300 median across 13 quotes of every type — a multi-mile levee survey with a surface model is a different order of job. Post the structure for real figures.

Can it fly during high water?

Weather permitting, yes, and that is one of the strongest arguments for it — the structure can be surveyed while under load without anyone walking a saturated embankment. Wind and rain still govern whether a flight happens.

Will photogrammetry work through grass?

No, and it is the most common misunderstanding here. Photogrammetry maps the top of the vegetation. For an accurate embankment surface under grass you want LiDAR, or accept that the model is of the grass.

From a job poster

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Give the structure type and length, and whether you need condition imagery or a surface model.

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