Aerial NDT · Province-wide
High-Temperature UT by drone.
Wall-thickness measurement on hot, in-service assets — 0 to 260 °C (32–500 °F) — without shutdown, by drone. Echo-to-echo and pulsed-echo modes with live A-scan.
Instrument standards: EN 12668-1 · ISO 16831:2012
Free phone consult · No pressure · Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT
Why clients choose it
- No process interruption or shutdown window needed
- Real-time condition data on operating equipment
- Removes personnel from hot-work zones at height
- Trended monitoring across turnarounds
Typical assets
How it works
- 1
Thermal scoping
Surface temperatures verified by radiometric camera before contact — probe selection and dwell strategy set accordingly.
- 2
High-temp contact
High-temperature delay-line probes and couplant rated for the surface take the readings; dwell time is managed automatically.
- 3
Mode selection
Echo-to-echo mode reads through coatings where present; pulsed-echo covers bare metal — A-scan verified live for every point.
- 4
Condition report
Readings mapped, trended, and delivered with the A-scan archive for the asset integrity file.
Frequently asked
You can really measure a 250 °C surface without shutting it down?
Yes — that is the point of the service. High-temperature transducers with delay lines and rated couplant take contact readings on operating assets up to 260 °C. The drone removes the other half of the problem: nobody stands on hot steel at height to get the data.
What does avoiding a shutdown actually save?
Process interruptions are typically the largest line item in any inspection campaign — often dwarfing inspection fees entirely. On-stream thickness data also means integrity decisions happen on this year's numbers, not last turnaround's.
Does echo-to-echo mode work through paint?
Yes — echo-to-echo measures between back-wall echoes, subtracting the coating's contribution, so intact paint or thin coatings don't bias the wall reading. Thick or degraded coatings get flagged for our DFT or EMAT services instead.
Which industries use aerial high-temperature UT most?
Refining, petrochemical, power generation, pulp and paper, and district energy — anywhere assets run hot for months at a stretch and every offline hour is expensive. In BC that includes pulp mills, gas plants, and energy facilities across the Interior and North.
Related aerial services
Aerial Ultrasonic Testing (UT)
Contact UT wall-thickness measurement delivered by drone — corrosion mapping on tanks, stacks, and structures at height without scaffolding, rope access, or shutdown.
View serviceAerial EMAT Inspection
Electromagnetic acoustic transducer thickness testing by drone — no couplant, up to 4 mm lift-off, made for corroded, dirty, or coated steel where conventional UT struggles.
View serviceAerial Industrial Thermal Survey
Heat-loss mapping on tanks and pipelines, refractory damage, stack hot spots, and district-energy networks — plant-scale radiometric surveys from the air.
View serviceAerial Pulsed Eddy Current (CUI)
Corrosion-under-insulation screening through cladding — pulsed eddy current by drone reads wall thickness through up to 100 mm of insulation and weather jacket. No stripping.
View service← All aerial inspection services·Drone specialist hub
Aerial High-Temperature UT across BC
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Scope your NDT campaign in one call
Free phone consult — asset, access, airspace, and a firm quote, usually in five minutes.