Drone & Aerial Survey
FAA-certificated drone capture alongside conventional ground survey, matched to the job.
TDH holds FAA pilot and drone certification, and uses uncrewed aerial capture alongside conventional ground survey. The two are complements, not substitutes — and knowing which to use where is most of the value.
Where drone capture earns its place
- Pavement and apron condition — one flight produces current imagery across the whole movement area, without walking it or closing it
- Vegetation and obstruction screening — spotting what has grown into a surface since the last look
- Change detection — comparing this year's capture to last year's to see what actually moved
- Areas that are awkward or unsafe to reach on foot
Where conventional survey is still the right answer
Geodetic control, precise elevations on critical features, and anything feeding a formal Airports GIS submission where the published accuracy standard governs. Remote sensing is an established route for airport survey work under FAA standards, but it does not remove the need for ground control where the tolerance demands it.
The honest framing: drone capture usually reduces the cost and disruption of getting current data. It does not replace survey discipline, and any vendor implying it does is selling you a risk you will meet later at submission.
What you get
- Current orthoimagery over the airport property
- Feature capture integrated directly into your GIS layer set — not delivered as loose imagery
- A written note of which features were captured aerially and which were ground-verified, so the accuracy provenance is on the record