For tower owners and those who work on them, there’s a growing appeal for using drones for an initial visual inspection. The FAA last summer issued its first regulations allowing commercial flights of drones, subject to several restrictions.

One limit is a 400 feet altitude cap on commercial drone flights, unless the operator can fly the drone within a 400-foot radius around a structure and does not fly higher than 400 feet higher than the structure, according to Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth attorney Laura Stefani. She also cautions that drones are restricted to Class G airspace unless they have prior authorization from the local Air Traffic Control authorities to use a different, and controlled, airspace. Class G is not controlled by ATC.

Generally, urban areas are blanketed by controlled airspace, according to Stefani; she adds that many towers in urban areas and near airports or military bases cannot be inspected using drones.

“Other rules that may impact tower inspections include restrictions on flights over people, flights outside of daylight hours, and flights beyond line-of-sight,” says Stefani. “The FAA has set out a means of obtaining certificates of waiver of these rules and certain others, which will require the right set of facts demonstrating that a particular flight can be conducted safely.”