Virginia’s critical gas pipelines are now being monitored by drones

Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) has decided to use drones as another means to perform equipment inspections on its pipeline infrastructure. The utility company says it will use DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones for inspections of critical infrastructure, right-of-way assessments, and monitoring more than 5,500 miles of gas pipeline in Virginia.

Explaining the rationale behind embracing drone technology, VNG says it has found the traditional methods for pipeline inspection to be slower, labor-intensive, expensive, and sometimes even risky for worker safety. This is because even though natural gas pipelines run underground, they are accessed from above the surface for maintenance and inspection. Vegetation, for instance, will overgrow and obscure the path of workers trying to access the pipeline.

Meanwhile, drones such as the DJI Mavic 2 Pro can be used for navigating and patrolling a segment of a pipeline, while identifying and capturing images or videos of areas of interest at…