For operators, midstream & integrity teams

Drone Pipeline Inspection

Drone inspections from $175 near you

Twin above-ground pipelines running through woodland into mist
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

Visual line of sight is the governing constraint

A pipeline is long and thin and a standard Part 107 operation requires the aircraft to stay within the pilot's visual line of sight. In practice that means repositioning along the route every mile or so, which turns a long line into a day of driving punctuated by short flights. This is the single biggest determinant of what aerial patrol costs per mile, and it is why beyond-visual-line-of-sight approval matters so much in this sector: with a BVLOS waiver or an approved operation, a single deployment can cover a materially longer stretch. Such approvals exist and utility and pipeline operators hold them, but they are not something to assume a pilot has. If your route is long enough for the arithmetic to matter, ask directly whether they operate BVLOS and under what authorisation, because it changes the price per mile more than anything else on this page.

What the survey covers

The easement itself: encroachment by structures, fences, vehicles and stored material; evidence of third-party excavation, new access tracks, or grading; and unauthorised crossings. Ground conditions over the line — subsidence, washout, exposed pipe at water crossings, erosion on slopes, and the state of any bank protection. Vegetation, both encroaching growth and the stressed or discoloured patches that can indicate a product release below. Above-ground assets: valve sites, pig launchers and receivers, cathodic protection test posts and rectifiers, markers and signage, meter stations and their fencing. And access: whether the maintenance route is passable, which matters the day you need it.

Leak detection is a different survey

Visual patrol finds the consequences of a leak — dead or stressed vegetation, discoloured soil, sheen on standing water — and finds them late. Detecting the gas itself needs a sensor built for it: optical gas imaging for hydrocarbon plumes, or a laser-based methane sensor flown low along the line. These are separate payloads with separate skill requirements, and if the survey is reporting into a regulatory leak detection programme the method has to satisfy that programme, not merely be aerial. Say up front which you need. Commissioning a visual patrol and expecting leak detection from it is the most expensive misunderstanding available in this category.

Specifying it

Give the route length in miles and the diameter and product, because those set both the risk framing and the site rules. Say whether you need the corridor, the above-ground assets, or both. State the cadence — patrol frequency is usually driven by your integrity management programme, and a recurring commitment prices very differently from a one-off. Name the deliverable: a georeferenced image set indexed by milepost is the minimum useful thing, an orthomosaic of the corridor is better for comparison between cycles, and findings need coordinates precise enough to dispatch to. Flag landowner access, since a pilot repositioning along the route is repeatedly on someone's property. And say what the survey reports into, because a document supporting a regulatory programme has requirements a general patrol does not.

What this settles

  • Easement condition: encroachment by structures, fences, vehicles and stored material, third-party excavation, new tracks and unauthorised crossings.
  • Ground conditions over the line — subsidence, washout, exposed pipe at water crossings, slope erosion and bank protection.
  • Above-ground assets: valve sites, pig traps, CP test posts and rectifiers, markers, meter stations and fencing.
  • Whether the maintenance access route is passable, which matters the day you need it.

What it does not

  • Detect gas. Visual patrol finds the consequences of a leak — stressed vegetation, discoloured soil, sheen — and finds them late.
  • Cover a long route in one deployment under standard rules. Line of sight means repositioning every mile or so.
  • Satisfy a regulatory leak detection programme just by being aerial. The method has to satisfy the programme.
  • Avoid landowner access. A pilot repositioning along a route is repeatedly on someone's property.

Commissioning a visual patrol and expecting leak detection from it is the most expensive misunderstanding available in this category. Say up front which you need.

Why post it on SkyLog

Resolution a fixed wing cannot give

A manned patrol covers hundreds of miles a day and sees the obvious. A drone at low altitude resolves a hand-dug excavation, a new fence post in the easement and a patch of stressed vegetation over the line.

Encroachment is the real finding

Third-party excavation is the leading cause of serious pipeline incidents. Most of what a right-of-way survey usefully produces is a record of who has been doing what in the easement, dated.

Repeatable, so change is visible

Flown the same way each cycle, the survey becomes a difference rather than a description — new ground disturbance since last time is far easier to spot than ground disturbance in the abstract.

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 patrol a whole pipeline?

Not in one flight under standard rules — visual line of sight requires repositioning every mile or so. With a BVLOS approval a single deployment covers far more. Ask any pilot whether they hold one; on a long route it is the main cost driver.

Can it detect a leak?

Only with a sensor for it — optical gas imaging or a laser methane detector. A visual patrol finds the after-effects, such as stressed vegetation and discoloured soil, and finds them late. Specify which survey you are buying.

How much does it cost per mile?

It depends almost entirely on whether the operation is within visual line of sight or BVLOS, then on access along the route. Inspection quotes on SkyLog have ranged $100 to about $1,550 with a $300 median across 13 quotes of every type, which is not a per-mile guide — post the route length and cadence for real numbers.

Is it better than manned aerial patrol?

It is different. A fixed wing covers far more ground per day at lower resolution; a drone resolves detail a manned patrol will never see. Several operators use both — manned for routine broad patrol, drones for detailed survey of specific segments and for follow-up.

What about landowner access?

It is a real planning item. A pilot repositioning along a route is repeatedly launching from private land, so easement rights and notification need sorting before the survey rather than at the gate.

Will the survey satisfy our integrity management requirements?

That depends on your programme and your regulator, not on the technology. Establish what the programme requires and specify the survey to it — and if a particular detection method is mandated, say so in the post.

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
Quote in under 2 hours

Post your pipeline survey free

Give the route length, product and cadence, and whether you need BVLOS. Pilots quote directly.

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