Three years since starting the program, SAM’s Unmanned Aerial Services (UAS) Team has reached the milestone of completing over 10,000 flights. We have inspected over 15,000 transmission and 90,000 distribution structures, totaling more than 5,000 miles and 2,600 hours of inspection services.
Our UAS program consists of over 23 FAA-certified pilots equipped with a fleet of 57 aircraft. This program, developed out of our headquarters in Austin, Texas, has expanded to seven of our other offices across the nation including Dallas, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, Columbus, Ohio, Tallahassee, Florida, St. Louis, Missouri, and Knoxville, Tennessee.
Client asset safety and security are at the core of our UAS services. SAM’s UAS program includes rigorous training, maintenance management, and risk mitigation practices to ensure safe and secure flights and data acquisition. We also pride ourselves in mainly utilizing aircraft built in either the United States or Europe. Our UAS assets used in tandem with our proprietary inspection management software streamlines workflows and improves the rate of inspection, identification, classification, location, and inventory of structures and components. What has taken days or weeks in the past, now takes hours with SAM Inspect™.
“Our UAS program evolved from a possibility in 2015 to a necessity in a wide range of markets,” said Bryan Fitzpatrick, UAS Manager. “We continue to push the envelope on how UAS technology can be used and anticipate a 40-50% growth in both aircraft and crews over the next year.”
SAM is dedicated to providing innovative solutions for a wide range of markets while also reducing project time, cost, and risk. Explore more about SAM’s UAS program and learn about our industry-leading Aerial Mapping services here.