For operators, landfills & compliance teams

Drone Methane Leak Detection

Drone inspections from $175 near you

A large-diameter gas pipeline crossing open green country
Three large pipelines running through a forest
Workers on a large pipe in an excavated trench
Twin pipelines running down a wooded valley
What do you need?
Where's the property?

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

OGI and laser sensors do different jobs

Optical gas imaging uses an infrared camera tuned to the absorption band of hydrocarbons, and it renders the plume visible as smoke in the image. Its strength is that a human being can see the leak and see where it comes from, which makes it excellent for pinpointing a source among a cluster of components and very persuasive as evidence. Its weakness is that it is qualitative, sensitive to background temperature contrast and to wind, and it tells you there is a plume rather than how much. Laser-based sensors — tunable diode absorption and similar — measure concentration along the beam path and produce numbers, which supports screening a site and estimating a rate, but they do not produce a picture of the plume and are less good at telling you which of three adjacent flanges it came from. Many programmes use a laser sensor to find and a camera to confirm. Decide which question you are answering before you commission.

Where this is used

Upstream and midstream oil and gas: well pads, compressor and meter stations, tank batteries, pipeline segments and processing facilities, where leak detection and repair programmes are a regulatory obligation and where the elevated components are the ones a ground survey struggles with. Landfills: surface emission monitoring across a cell, where the area is large, walking it is slow, and the emissions are diffuse rather than from a discrete component. Biogas and anaerobic digestion plant. Utility gas distribution, for both leak survey and post-incident assessment. And increasingly for verification: re-surveying after a repair to demonstrate it worked, which is a distinct and often overlooked commission.

Compliance is the part to check first

Regulatory leak detection programmes specify methods, and the specification is often quite tight — which instruments qualify, what sensitivity they must demonstrate, how surveys are conducted and documented, and who is competent to conduct them. Alternative and advanced methods have been getting approved routes into these programmes, but the direction and the detail change, and an aerial survey being technically excellent does not make it a compliant survey. So establish first what your programme accepts, then specify the work to it. If the survey is for your own purposes — finding losses, checking a repair, screening a site before a formal survey — you have much more latitude and it is often the more valuable use anyway.

What conditions the survey needs

Wind is the enemy. It disperses a plume faster than any sensor can catch it, and above a modest speed both methods degrade sharply; most surveys have a wind limit and it is lower than people expect. OGI additionally needs thermal contrast between the gas and its background, so a plume against a background at the same temperature is difficult regardless of how much gas there is. Rain and heavy humidity interfere. Time of day matters for contrast. The practical consequence is that this is weather-dependent work with a real chance of a survey needing a second visit, and an arrangement that assumes one attempt on a fixed date will occasionally disappoint. Ask what conditions the pilot requires and what happens if the day is unsuitable.

What this settles

  • Renders a hydrocarbon plume visible with optical gas imaging, so a person can see the leak and see which component it comes from.
  • Measures concentration along the beam path with a laser sensor, which supports screening a site and estimating a rate.
  • Covers elevated components at well pads, compressor and meter stations, tank batteries and processing facilities that a ground survey struggles with.
  • Verifies a repair — re-surveying to demonstrate it worked, which is a distinct and often overlooked commission.

What it does not

  • Do both jobs with one sensor. OGI shows you where; laser tells you how much. Many programmes use one to find and the other to confirm.
  • Quantify from OGI. It is qualitative, and sensitive to background thermal contrast.
  • Work in wind. It disperses a plume faster than any sensor catches it, and the limit is lower than people expect.
  • Count as a compliant survey by default. Regulatory programmes specify instruments, sensitivity, conduct and competence.

Establish what your programme accepts first, then specify the work to it. If the survey is for your own purposes — finding losses, checking a repair, screening before a formal survey — you have much more latitude and it is often the more valuable use.

Why post it on SkyLog

Reaches what a walking survey cannot

Tank tops, flare tips, elevated flanges and the middle of a landfill cell are exactly where emissions concentrate and exactly where a technician with a handheld instrument does not go.

Whole-site in one pass

A gridded aerial survey covers a facility or a cell systematically rather than component by component, which is how you find the emission nobody had on the inspection list.

Georeferenced findings

The output that matters is a located, dated detection you can dispatch a repair to and re-survey afterwards — not a video of a plume with no coordinates attached.

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

Can a drone quantify how much gas is escaping?

Laser-based sensors support estimation of a rate, with meaningful uncertainty attached and heavy dependence on wind data. Optical gas imaging is qualitative — it shows a plume, not a number. If you need a quantity, say so, because it determines the sensor.

Will an aerial survey satisfy our LDAR obligations?

Only if your programme accepts the method. Regulatory leak detection regimes specify instruments, sensitivity and procedure, and technical capability is not the same as regulatory acceptance. Confirm with your compliance team before commissioning.

What does it cost?

It depends on the sensor and on site size — OGI and laser payloads are specialist equipment and are priced accordingly, well above a standard visual inspection. Post the site and the sensor you need for real quotes rather than working from a general inspection range.

Can it work on a landfill?

Yes, and surface emission screening across a cell is one of the clearer applications, because the area is large and diffuse and walking it is slow. Say which programme the survey reports into, if any.

What weather does it need?

Low wind above all — plumes disperse and both methods lose sensitivity quickly. OGI also needs thermal contrast between the gas and its background. Expect the survey to be scheduled to conditions rather than to a fixed date.

Can the same flight do a visual inspection?

Usually yes, and it is efficient to ask for it. A visual pass documenting component condition alongside the gas survey costs little extra once the aircraft is on site.

From a job poster

The jobs nobody else would quote

“I was not expecting to have a response so quickly after calling countless different companies.”
Jared OlroydOwner, Specialty Cleaning Agents
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Say what the site is, which sensor you need and what programme it reports into. Pilots with gas payloads quote directly.

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