The advent of drone technology has revolutionised industries like energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Weather plays an important role in the success of inspection operations, whether conducted with drones, helicopters, or planes.
Like every other project aspect, weather plays a significant role in aerial inspections. It can either facilitate the successful conduct of the process or drastically reduce its results. The weather can either contribute to smooth operations or perform a reverse role, making the flight delayed, inaccurate, and troublesome.
Conditions like fog, low clouds, wind, rain, and snow make effective drone flight difficult and can damage the drones. To ensure a safe flight, the person behind the drone must have the necessary training and skills.
Stay with us to learn how weather conditions impact the safety and accuracy of drone-based aerial inspection operations.
Effects Of Weather On Aerial Inspections
The accuracy and precision of data collected with drones are unmatched. However, the situation could reverse when the weather is unsuitable, making the collected data susceptible.
Wind is considered the most influential and invisible troublemaker in drone flight. Even moderate wind gusts can create hurdles in the flight and stability of the vehicle. A slight deviation could result in inaccurate data or the capture of wrong information.
Also, flying in unfavourable wind conditions could result in enhanced fuel consumption, which would increase costs and decrease the operation’s overall efficiency. For drones, strong wind gusts cause a lot of turbulence during flight, making the collected data doubtful in terms of accuracy.
Rain – The Most Avoidable Condition
The most avoidable condition in which the drone flight must not be conducted. It severely damages the drones as mostly these advanced crewless vehicles are not waterproof. Additionally, the rain drops could hinder the way, thus compromising the quality of images and video footage, leading to inaccurate data collection. It creates safety risks for vehicles like drones and helicopters that must maintain safe flights, thus compromising quality.
In worst-case scenarios, heavy rains can cause electrical malfunctions, which can cause the aircraft to shut down and halt mid-flight. Therefore, aerial inspectors are recommended to stop or postpone the operation when the weather is harsh.
Fog is another enemy of safe flight. It poses a significant, inefficient threat to collecting accurate data, specifically for visual and thermal imaging requirements. Sometimes, foggy weather can limit visibility to only a few metres, making it difficult for operators to navigate safely.
Additionally, it would lead to moisture build-up on the camera lens, affecting the quality of the captured images and footage. Companies prefer to delay their operations until visibility becomes clear, ultimately costing them higher budgets.
(Impact of weather on flying | Civil Aviation Safety Authority )
Lightning And Thunderstorms
It is highly advised to cancel or postpone drone inspections during thunderstorms and lightning conditions. These conditions combine many factors, such as strong winds and rain, which, along with lightning strikes, could lead to disastrous failures and be dangerous for the equipment.
The drones are highly sensitive and vulnerable to lightning effects, which could cause signal loss and even crash equipment. Companies conducting aerial inspections prefer to delay or reschedule the operation to avoid equipment loss rather than perform an unreliable operation.
Extreme Weather Conditions
The effects of harsh or extreme weather are undeniable and must be considered when planning an aerial inspection. Extremely hot weather could cause drones to malfunction, disrupting the vehicle’s electrical system and leading to signal loss and the capture of incorrect footage.
On the other hand, snowy weather could cause snowflakes to accumulate on propellers and cameras, which could lead to a dangerous situation. Equipment could be lost, or the cameras could shut down altogether. Cameras would not function properly, thus giving compromised results.
Conclusion
Weather conditions must be the most sought-after factor when planning an aerial inspection. Although the weather also makes the flight exciting and thrilling, it is better to keep in mind that with every adventure, there are risks and dangers involved.