Helicopter, plane or drone for a LiDAR survey
- Helicopter: slow, low flight along a winding route, following the terrain in the hills. It suits power line, pipeline, road, rail and canal corridors, and Himalayan hydro, landslide and road alignment work.
- Fixed-wing aircraft: suits large, open survey blocks flown in straight lines.
- Drone: suits a single plant, mine or construction site of a few square kilometres, and is usually faster and costs less there. See industrial drone survey.
How a LiDAR survey job runs
- Requirement. You send the area or route (a KML or shapefile is ideal), its size or length, the deliverables, the point density or accuracy, your coordinate system and the deadline.
- Feasibility. The operator looks at the aircraft and scanner needed, where the helicopter would be based, and the clearances the area needs.
- Clearances. Airspace clearance for the flights, and security clearance where aerial survey of the area requires it. This is why a survey is planned weeks ahead.
- Written quote. You see the full cost before anything is booked.
- Flying. Sorties fly in daylight and fair weather; low cloud, rain and haze stop them, so mountain surveys are planned for the clearest season.
- Processing. The point cloud is processed into the deliverables agreed in the quote: terrain and surface models, contours, profiles, orthophoto and CAD or GIS files.
What decides the cost
- Flying hours, including positioning from the operator's base to the survey area and back.
- The size of the area or the length of the corridor, and how many sorties it takes.
- Point density and accuracy: denser data means lower, slower flying and more passes.
- Processing and deliverables: a classified point cloud alone costs less than a full set of models, contours and drawings.
- Clearances, landing and night-halt charges, where they apply.
What to check before you pay
- Which permit-holding operator will fly, and which aircraft and scanner are planned.
- The accuracy, point density, coordinate system and file formats, written into the quote.
- Who arranges each clearance, and how long each is expected to take.
- That the quote is all-inclusive: positioning, flying, equipment, processing, clearances and taxes.
- What happens to the schedule and the cost if weather or a clearance stops a sortie.
For flights that carry a geological or survey team and its equipment to a site without a road, see private helicopter charter. All survey and aerial jobs are listed under aerial work.