Flight operations
Plan weather, airspace, site hazards, batteries, emergency actions, visual line of sight, and crew roles.
FG / 16 / Field guide
Drones
Use the aircraft as a data-collection tool with a clear mission, legal boundary, and deliverable.
Pulse
Current briefing
What is moving now.
Regulatory watch
FAA refreshes its Part 107 operating guide
Federal Aviation Administration
The July 2026 guide consolidates the operating boundaries that should sit inside every commercial jobsite flight checklist.
Open the brief →Current briefing
Bridging Indoor Total Station Control with Aerial Drone Surveys into a Single Coordinate System
Rami Tamimi
Surveyor Rami Tamimi demonstrated a field workflow linking indoor total station resections directly to exterior GNSS control, enabling seamless coordinate alignment across drone LiDAR, aerial photogrammetry, and indoor SLAM scans.
Open the brief →01
Get your bearings
A practical drone is an aviation and data-collection system. Start with the deliverable, then plan airspace, authority, weather, people, battery, capture geometry, data handling, and a flight that can be repeated safely.
02
Start here / Three moves
- 01
Define the jobsite deliverable
Choose progress photos, quantity support, orthomosaic, inspection, or stakeholder communication and specify the accuracy and cadence actually required.
- 02
Build the legal checklist
Verify pilot status, registration, Remote ID, airspace authorization, site permission, people, vehicles, and any local restrictions before launch.
- 03
Fly a repeatable route
Standardize altitude, overlap, camera angle, lighting window, takeoff point, naming, storage, and notes so visits can be compared.
03
Build capability
Capture
Match altitude, overlap, exposure, angle, positioning, and ground control to the intended output.
Data workflow
Transfer, organize, process, verify, retain, and share imagery with clear accuracy and privacy boundaries.
04
Choose gear / Decision rule
Choose aircraft and mapping software by the required deliverable, regulatory fit, camera and positioning needs, wind performance, battery logistics, processing model, data ownership, support, and total field workflow.
before
affiliate
05
Your source map
Start with voices you already value. Verify before concluding.
Reference layer
Use these to settle claims—not to manufacture certainty.
Field Notes
Original editorial work