been flying commercially for about four years, done a lot of real estate and some events but honestly im kind of burnt out on the creative side of things. editing is not my strong suit and clients always want revisions and it just grinds me down after a while. a buddy who works in utilities mentioned that they use contracted drone pilots for powerline and tower inspections and that the pay is apparently pretty solid

i looked into it a little bit and it seems like theres some additional certifications you might need depending on what kind of inspection work you want to do, thermal imaging stuff especially. my current setup is a Mavic 3 Pro which is great for video but probaly not the right tool for serious inspection work. wondering if anyone made a similar transition and what that looked like — did you have to invest in new gear first, how do you even find those clients, is it mostly through staffing companies or direct

any info appreciated, even just pointing me in the right direction

yeah i made pretty much this exact switch about two years ago and it was the best decision i made for my sanity honestly. the inspection world is a totally different vibe — clients are way more focused on deliverables and data than they are on whether the footage looks cinematic. thermal is a big deal, for solar and roofing work especially. i ended up picking up a Zenmuse H20T for a while before going with a dedicated platform but it was expensive and i had to line up a few contracts first to justify it. getting into utilities specifically usually means going through a prime contractor first rather than direct with the utility, at least to start. look up companies that do ROW surveys or transmission line inspections and reach out to their operations teams. it takes persistence but once you're in with one of those companies and do solid work the referrals come naturally

not doing inspection full time but i did a few roof inspection jobs last year through an insurance company and the process was pretty straightforward, they had their own software you had to upload to which was a bit annoying to learn but nothing crazy. paid better per hour than anything else ive done. i think the threshold for getting into the bigger infrastructure stuff is higher though, imagine you need a pretty solid track record and some specific gear before anyone serious will hire you. the creative burnout thing is real btw, i feel that