been seeing more job postings lately for UAV inspection pilots, mostly for things like cell towers, wind turbines, solar farms and roofs. some of them list certifications i've never heard of like thermography certs or specific software training. trying to figure out if its worth going down that rabbit hole or if companies just want 107 + flight hours and will train you on the rest.

i already have my 107 and about 180 hours logged, mostly aerial photo and some mapping work with a Mavic 3 and a P4 Multispectral. wondering if i need to pick up something like a Zenmuse H20T or get familiar with inspection-specific platforms before i can even get a foot in the door. the pay rates i've seen listed are actually pretty decent compared to real estate, which is why im sniffing around this corner of the industry.

anyone actually working in this space that can tell me what they actually looked for when hiring or what got you the gig?

thermography is genuinely worth it if you want to do solar or building envelope work, there's a Level 1 cert through ITC that most serious inspection companies recognize. it's not super cheap but it opens doors that are otherwise just closed to you. the hardware side, yeah youre probably going to need to get hands on time with something like the H20T or a Flir-equipped bird at some point, but a lot of companies will onboard you with their own gear if everything else checks out. what they're really screening for in my experience is situational awareness and whether you can produce clean consistent data, not just fly ? anyone can fly, not everyone can run a methodical inspection pass and actually hand over useful deliverables.

180 hours with mapping experience is a solid starting point honestly, better than most people applying.

i applied for one of those wind turbine inspection roles last year and didnt get it, but the feedback i got was basically that they wanted to see documented confined-space awareness training and some familiarity with their reporting software (they were using a platform called Scopito). never heard of it before that conversation. point being some of these niches have really specific requirements that arent obvious from the outside so if you can find anyone actually doing the work its worth just asking them directly what they wish they'd had going in.