Wet, windy, cold – according to meteorological definition, autumn began on the 1st of September. The first of the yearly autumn storms will be there soon. Luckily, hardly anyone in Germany needs to worry about catastrophic damage to their home, but the storms are still not completely harmless. Roofs are often uncovered, facades attacked and public infrastructure damaged. The latter also includes the nationwide power grid, which is particularly vulnerable to storms.

No autumn passes without torn cables, defective insulators or completely bent masts. Such major damage, although costly to repair, is at least easy to detect. It becomes more difficult with smaller, harder to recognize damages or a complex accumulation of damages. Here the necessary damage assessment can become a complex and time-consuming task.

Highest efficiency through drones

But that no longer has to be the case: Drone technology is the solution. On average, it is about 40 percent cheaper than using industrial climbers or specialist personnel in helicopters. In addition, trained drone pilots often only need a few minutes to inspect a power pole. And as if saving time and money wasn’t enough, with this type of damage assessment nobody runs the risk of suffering an electric shock. Only if damage is detected, the appropriate specialist personnel has to take action.

The advantages of multicopters for the inspection of power lines are manifold. But it is often questionable whether the technology can also be used. This is due to the current network of rules and laws in Germany on the subject of drones. All over the country, 350,000 power pylons need to be inspected in a wide variety of environments. Particularly within cities, a legal labyrinth quickly opens up.

Trust the market leader

FlyNex provides a remedy: With MAP2FLY, all relevant rules, laws, and information on requirements for drone flights can be retrieved – simply by mouse click. This way, Germany’s leading map service makes any UAV deployment easier. Are you planning your own drone project? Then read more about the FlyNex products MAP2FLY, HORIZON, and GEOSPHERE and be one step ahead of the competition!

The FlyNex Team