In S6E07 of Sky Commander Academy, we drop you onto a pipeline right-of-way (ROW)—long, narrow, and deceptively quiet.
This is where corridor flying meets ground truth: tractors, new fences, sheds, brush, ATVs, construction equipment, erosion, and “just a small project” happening right on top of buried pipe.

This episode walks you through a full pipeline patrol mission—from route planning and ROW mapping to spotting encroachments and keeping one eye on the sky and one eye on the ground the whole way.

In this episode:
🧭 What makes pipeline patrol different from powerlines – Buried assets, subtle clues, long sight lines, and why the real story is often on the ground, not in the air
🗺️ Reading the ROW like a corridor, not a line – Easements, access tracks, crossings, valves, and where the risk naturally piles up
🚜 Encroachment 101: who and what to watch for – New buildings, driveways, fencing, stockpiles, heavy equipment, “small digs,” and off-road traffic
🌾 Vegetation, erosion & drainage – Slopes, sinkholes, slumping, washouts, standing water, and why ground patterns matter as much as surface hardware
🛫 Choosing your flight geometry – Offset vs overhead, altitude bands, and camera angles that show both corridor continuity and local problem spots
👀 Keeping eyes on ground and sky – Balancing air risk (low manned traffic, ag ops, helicopters) with ground risk (people, machines, animals) along a long, thin route
📍 Hot zones along the route – Road crossings, water crossings, farms, construction zones, valve sites, and where you should slow down and look twice
📋 Field notes that aren’t just “we saw something” – How to mark location, type, severity, and urgency so integrity teams can act fast
🧾 Turning patrol footage into a clean ROW report – Maps, screenshots, callouts, and a findings table that makes you look like you’ve done this for years
🚀 BVLOS & 108 connection – How mastering pipeline patrol builds your long-linear planning, hazard scanning, and reporting muscles for future BVLOS corridor missions

If you just want to “fly along the pipe and see what you see,” this episode will feel uncomfortably specific.
If you want pipeline operators to think,
“This pilot understands our ROW, not just our airspace,”
this is your corridor playbook.

Trace the line. Read the ground. Protect the right-of-way.
Prove you can fly it smart—or don’t fly at all.

🌐 SkyCommander.ca
🎧 Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever serious pilots train.

#SkyCommanderAcademy #PipelineInspection #ROWPatrol #UtilityInspections #CorridorOps #BVLOSReady #DroneOperations #EnergyInfrastructure #MissionReady #FlySmart