Aerial NDT & Drone Contact Inspection in BC

 🔄 Reviewed and maintained by the AnyLeak team — August 2026. Rated 5 stars by BC customers.

Measuring wall thickness on a tank shell, verifying a coating on a stack, screening for corrosion under insulation — until recently, every one of those tasks at height meant scaffolding, rope access or a shutdown. AnyLeak.ca now performs contact NDT by drone: an industrial UAV places calibrated probes directly on the asset and streams measurement data to the ground — at height, over water, and in places people shouldn’t have to go. It extends the same philosophy behind our drone inspection and advanced detection practice: measure first, without disruption.

The aerial NDT suite

• Ultrasonic thickness testing (UT) — wall thickness on metals, plastics and composites; corrosion monitoring with instrument compliance to EN 12668-1 / ISO 16831.
• High-temperature UT — thickness measurement on assets up to 260 °C, live, without taking the process down.
• EMAT — couplant-free ultrasonics for corroded, dirty or coated surfaces (ASTM E1816-compliant instrumentation).
• Coating inspection (DFT) — dry film thickness verification on tanks, stacks, bridges and structural steel.
• Pulsed eddy current (PEC) — corrosion-under-insulation screening straight through cladding and weather jackets.

Why put the probe on a drone?

• Access cost collapses. No scaffold build, no rope crews, no lifts — access costs typically fall by half or more on elevated work.
• Safety by removal. Nobody works at height, enters the confined space, or stands next to the hot or energized asset.
• No shutdown choreography. Many measurements happen with the asset in service.
• Digital, repeatable data. GPS-tagged readings at the same points, year over year — trend data your integrity program can use.

Where it fits in BC

Tanks, vessels and piping at industrial and process sites; stacks and chimneys; bridges and structural steel; marine and port infrastructure; municipal and government assets; and the building systems we already serve for commercial clients. Flights are planned and conducted in accordance with Transport Canada RPAS requirements, and findings are reported in writing — measurement locations, values and trends — for your engineering, maintenance or integrity team to act on.

Frequently asked questions

Is drone contact NDT as accurate as handheld? The probes and instruments are the same class used in handheld work; the drone is the access method, with stabilized contact and live data verification on the ground.

Do you interpret the results? We deliver calibrated measurements and clear reporting, and we work alongside your engineering or asset-integrity team for disposition decisions.

What about thermal and visual inspection? See our industrial thermal surveys, solar farm inspection and battery storage monitoring — the non-contact side of the same aerial practice.

Asset at height that needs numbers? Call (604) 269-5325 for a free phone consult or request an assessment.