A sensor is only as good as the line it flies.
LiDAR, photogrammetry and GIS capture from a platform that can slow down, follow terrain and hold a line through a canyon, over ground where a fixed-wing has to guess and a truck cannot go.
We fly the aircraft. You keep the accuracy claim.
A survey helicopter is a tripod that moves. Everything that matters to your data (density, overlap, geometry, whether the last pass matches the first) comes down to how disciplined the aircraft is at low level in bad air.
That is why we treat survey as a two-crew operation with a written flight plan rather than as sightseeing with expensive equipment aboard. The lines are flown in sequence, the altitudes are held, and if a line is not right it is flown again while we are still there.
Most clients bring their own sensor and processing. That is the right way round: you own the deliverable and the accuracy statement, we own the platform and the safety case. Where you need capture and processing together we will bring in a partner and tell you exactly who is doing which part.
- Client-supplied or partner sensors
- Part 133 external-load configurations available
- Planned lines, held altitudes, repeatable geometry
- On-site coverage QC before we leave the area
Six ways clients use
the aircraft.
Some clients buy one of these for one week a year. Others fly the same corridor every spring for a decade.
Corridor LiDAR
Transmission lines, pipelines, roads, rail and canals, flown as a continuous strip at the offset and speed your point density calls for.
- Repeatable pass geometry
- Multiple returns through canopy
- Vegetation-encroachment models
Area & block LiDAR
Watersheds, burn scars, mine sites, ski terrain and development parcels captured as a block with planned overlap.
- Planned sidelap per specification
- Terrain-following where it is safe to
- Bare-earth deliverables
Orthoimagery & photogrammetry
High-resolution vertical and oblique imagery, from single-site documentation up to mapped blocks with control.
- Nadir and oblique capture
- Ground-control coordination
- Change detection between epochs
Sensor integration
Most survey clients arrive with their own sensor and their own operator. Our job is the platform, the mount, the paperwork and the flying.
- Client-supplied sensor mounting
- Power and mounting provisions
- External-load survey configurations
Ground control & check
Somebody has to put targets on the ground and hold a receiver over them. We plan the flight around where your control actually is.
- Access to control points by air
- Check-shot planning
- Crew insertion for control teams
Recon & route selection
Before a corridor is surveyed it usually has to be chosen. Low-level recon with the engineer in the aircraft answers questions a desktop study cannot.
- Route and alignment recon
- Constructability and access review
- Site selection flights
Helicopter, fixed-wing, drone or boots. An honest comparison.
We only own one of these, which is exactly why it is worth writing down where the others win.
| Platform | What it is good at | When it is the right buy |
|---|---|---|
| Helicopter | Slow, low, stable. Can follow terrain, hold a line through a canyon, stop and hover, and put the sensor exactly where the specification wants it. | Higher point density, tight corridors, steep and broken terrain, short blocks, anywhere landing or hovering is part of the job. |
| Fixed wing | Fast and efficient over large open blocks, but it cannot slow down, cannot follow a canyon and cannot stop. | Large flat blocks where cost per acre dominates and terrain is forgiving. |
| Ground crew | Highest absolute accuracy at a point, and the only way to establish real control, but slow, and limited to where a person can walk. | Control, verification and the detailed sites that matter most. |
| Drone | Cheap and precise over a small site, with real limits on endurance, range, payload and line-of-sight rules. | Single sites and short corridors inside visual range. |
Specification first.
Aircraft last.
SpecificationBefore anything flies
Point density, accuracy class, coverage, deliverable format and the coordinate system it has to land in. Half the survey work that goes wrong goes wrong here, because the aircraft was booked before the specification was agreed.
Flight planningDesk
Lines, altitudes, overlap, turn areas, airspace, terrain clearance and fuel. In mountain country the plan has to survive a density-altitude check as well as a coverage check.
ControlGround team
Targets placed and surveyed, check points chosen. Where the control is remote, we can fly the control team in and out the same day.
AcquisitionWeather window
Flown in the window the sensor needs, which is not always the window the pilot would choose. Sun angle, snow cover, leaf-off and haze all decide the day.
On-site QCSame day
Coverage and data health checked before the aircraft leaves the area, because coming back next month costs more than staying one more night.
DeliveryPer specification
Raw and processed data handed to your team or ours, in the format and datum agreed at step one, with the flight record and coverage log alongside it.
What comes off the aircraft.
The exact list depends on your sensor and your processor. This is the shape of it for a typical corridor block.
What survey managers ask.
Most of our survey clients bring their own sensor and their own processing chain; they own the accuracy claim, and they should. We provide the certified platform, the mounting and power provisions, the flight planning and the flying.
If you need a full turnkey capture we will bring in a survey partner and say plainly who is doing what, rather than implying it is all in-house.
That is a sensor and control question more than an aircraft question. What the aircraft controls is line-keeping, altitude discipline, speed and pass repeatability, and in mountain terrain those are exactly what fall apart with an inexperienced crew. Give us your accuracy class and we will tell you honestly whether the flight profile it implies is safe over that ground.
Yes, and in central Idaho those windows are short and worth planning around a year ahead. Tell us the condition you need and we will tell you the realistic weeks it exists in.
Handled in planning. Wilderness overflight guidance, TFRs during fire season, military operating areas and noise-sensitive ground all get sorted out before the first line is flown.
Per hour, usually. Per usable deliverable in steep, narrow or short-block terrain, frequently not, because the alternative is a re-fly, a gap in the block, or a crew walking in. We will tell you when a fixed-wing or a drone is the better buy.
Send the specification. We'll tell you if the flight profile is safe.
Corridor and block capture across the American West.
CALL DIRECT · 208-315-5769