The drone offers a point of view that allows to observe the first disorders that it was impossible to observe from the ground, in particular at the top of the chimney.
The drone is a very efficient tool for carrying out a visual inspection of a work of art, a building, a chimney and any building which can thus be inspected in great detail. The drone is equipped with a camera and a camera to view and record photos and videos which will allow a documented diagnosis on the most inaccessible parts.
Our operator DCOMDRONE, installed in the department of Seine-et-Marne (77) intervened in Paris (75) to carry out a visual inspection of the structure of an industrial brick chimney.
The mission order that DCOMDRONE received from the company Mcc2i, which specializes in the maintenance of industrial chimneys, confirmed the request for a drone inspection of an old brick industrial chimney in Paris. The on-site scouting made it possible to validate the possibility of a diagnosis by drone. It was still necessary to obtain the flight authorization issued by the Paris police headquarters because the capital is protected by zone P23 which is prohibited from overflight by any aircraft, and the drone is an aircraft, without a crew on board but an aircraft all the same.
DCOMDRONE began its first drone services in Paris in 2014. They therefore have good experience of the procedures to be carried out, the documents to be provided, the operating conditions of a drone for an aerial photography service by drone in Paris.
We ask them about this mission.
What is the deadline for a drone flight authorization in Paris?
It took us a few days to collect all the documents and put together a file that complied with the expectations of the police headquarters. Under these conditions and without surprise we received a favorable opinion which allowed us to schedule our intervention the following week with good weather; no rain and very little wind.
Is the drone the most efficient solution today?
Visual inspection of such a brick chimney can be performed using a lifting platform when the environment is suitable. But you can see in the photos that it was impossible to position such a device near the chimney and even less to go around it to examine the structure and assess the condition of the masonry and any damage to the structure.
The drone represents the least expensive, the least dangerous, the fastest, in a word the most effective solution for carrying out a complete diagnosis, photographing the entire construction a few centimeters from the walls.
The drone is more flexible to use and much less expensive than the rental and use of a lifting platform.
How to proceed, how many flights for an industrial chimney inspection?
For this specific case, we carried out 4 elevations over the entire height of the chimney; each elevation being spaced at an angle of 90 °. We photographed all of the masonry, the top of the chimney viewed from the side and from above as well as the steel straps with special attention to their clamping clips.
Our drone is equipped with propeller guards to prevent it from falling in the event it hits the chimney or the wall of the building opposite.
This type of environment requires very precise piloting, especially since the boxed position of the drone prohibits the use of GPS pilot assistance which usually greatly secures flights. To allow the drone to approach within 1m of the masonry, we have also deactivated the avoidance radars. All of this leads to redoubling your attention and maintaining full concentration.
We took 85 photos to cover the 4 sides of a fireplace approximately 16m high and 2m in diameter at the base. The photo sensor on board the drone offers, with a distance of one meter, a remarkable definition since 1 pixel in the photo represents 0.5 mm on the chimney; which offers the comfort of zooming in the original image to observe the fireplace in great detail as with this tightening clip. The live image feedback revealed the first disorders that it was impossible to observe from the ground, in particular at the top of the chimney.
Photo: Industrial brick chimney - Side view - Drone inspection - © DCOMDRONE
Photo: Industrial brick chimney - View on a clamp of the strapping - Inspection by drone - © DCOMDRONE