background: we do telecom tower maintenance and I've been trying to convince management for about eight months that we should be doing pre-climb drone assessments before we send technicians up. had a meeting last week where it finally got some traction so now I actually need to figure out what the workflow looks like in practice instead of just pitching the idea in theory.

the towers we deal with are mostly guyed lattice structures, 150 to 300 feet, some self-supporting monopoles mixed in. the challenge I keep running into when I research this is that everyone talks about using drones for tower inspection but nobody really gets into what it looks like when you're trying to document a specific mount at 200 feet or check for corrosion on the climbing pegs. like is the Matrice 30T the right direction or are people using something else? and proximity flying around a lattice structure seems like it would be a nightmare for obstacle avoidance sensors, do most people just turn that off and fly manual?

I have my Part 107 and decent stick time but mostly on open site stuff, not tight proximity work around metallic structures.

yeah the obstacle avoidance thing is a real issue around lattice towers, the sensors get confused by all the crossing members and you'll get phantom braking at the worst moments. most people doing serious tower work are flying in atti mode or full manual for the close-up passes, which means you really want solid stick skills before you get within like 10 feet of the structure. the other thing nobody mentions is RF interference ? depending on what's active on that tower you can get some really funky compass behavior and in worst case scenarios you're fighting for control. I always do a mag calibration off site and watch the compass variance readings like a hawk on approach.

M30T is a solid choice for this, the zoom on that thing is genuinely useful because you can hover at a safer distance and still get readable detail on hardware and welds. some guys use the Autel EVO II Pro for the sensor size but the DJI ecosystem is just easier to work with for documentation pipelines.

the RF interference point above is real and worth taking seriously. worked near a broadcast tower once and my Mavic just started drifting sideways in what should have been a stable hover, took me a second to realize what was happening. lattice structures are their own thing too because the wind behavior around them is weird, you get these little vortex pockets on the leeward side that can surprise you. start your close proximity work with the wind at your back pushing you away from the structure, not toward it, gives you more reaction time if something goes sideways.