The Aerial Perspective Series | Vol. 1 A t 400 feet above the sleeping city, a small hum cuts through the dawn. Below, traffic lights blink in rhythm, sprinklers hiss across manicured lawns, and the skyline glows like a pulse. Up here, in the thin layer between earth and sky, a new kind of infrastructure hums quietly — invisible to most, indispensable to all. Drones. They don’t carry passengers or deliver our groceries (at least, not yet). Their true work happens in silence —

I f you’ve been building long enough, you’ve heard the pitch before: “Drones are faster. Drones are safer. Drones are cheaper.” And if you’re being honest, you’ve probably thought: “Sure. But nothing replaces walking the site.” You’re right. Boots on the ground are how you’ve always understood a jobsite. Your crews don’t just measure—they feel the grade under their feet. They see where the dirt’s loose, where the trench is unstable, where the story poles line up with reality.

I magine this: A small mapping drone is halfway through surveying a wildfire perimeter. Normally, it would have to break off, land, recharge, and then resume its mission — losing precious time. Instead, a larger “mothership” drone swoops in, hovers alongside, and transfers a fresh charge mid-air. The mapping drone never leaves its station. Mission saved. That’s the promise of drone-to-drone charging — aerial refueling for the age of autonomy. It’s a concept that could unlock

M ost folks in construction still think of surveying as something that happens once — early on, before the concrete trucks show up and...

T his Labor Day, we’re tipping our wings to the workers who make progress possible. From construction crews to solar installers, every...

The concept of Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) operations has been a pivotal topic in the evolution of drone technology. Initially,...