bit of background ? work for a telecom subcontractor and we've been tasked with inspecting a bunch of monopoles and guyed towers for a client doing a portfolio audit. talking maybe 60-70 structures over 4 months. management wants to know if we can reduce climber time using drones for the visual portions and only send guys up when theres something that actually needs hands-on attention.

ive been flying recreational for years but never professionally, and the structures range from like 150ft monopoles to a couple 400ft guyed towers. im aware of the airspace considerations and the 400ft AGL rule situation but honestly the bigger thing im worried about is getting close enough to the tower for useful inspection imagery without flying into guy wires i can't see, especially on the taller structures. any of you done this kind of work and whats the actual workflow look like

also someone mentioned DJI Dock for this but that feels like overkill for our use case

guy wires are genuinely the thing that should keep you up at night on this kind of job. they're basically invisible to obstacle avoidance sensors, especially the thinner ones on taller structures, and if you're flying in any kind of wind those wires move. i always get the tower drawings before i fly anything guyed and try to map out exactly where the anchor points are on the ground so i have a mental model of the geometry before i even take off.

for actual inspection work at height the Matrice 30T with the zoom camera is pretty much the standard at this point, the 200x hybrid zoom means you can get actionable imagery of hardware, welds, corrosion on mounting brackets etc from a safe standoff distance. doesnt fix the guy wire problem but it means you dont have to get as close as you might think.

also make sure whoever is reviewing the imagery actually knows what structural issues look like on tower hardware. the drone is just the camera platform, the value is in the analysis. seen a lot of inspection reports that were basically just pretty photos with no actual findings.

not done towers specifically but did a run of high voltage transmission line inspections last year which has similar sketchy-obstacle energy. the thing i kept coming back to was having a dedicated spotter whose only job is watching for wires and obstructions, not helping fly, not looking at the screen, just eyes on the physical environment around the aircraft. sounds obvious but when you're concentrating on getting the shot lined up on a monitor its really easy to lose spatial awareness of where you actually are.

60-70 structures in 4 months is a solid pace btw, whats the deliverable format they're expecting? if they want full orthomosaic or 3D model output thats a very different workflow than just inspection stills