A helicopter doing work for FortisBC turned heads in the Greater Victoria area Thursday morning.
The chopper, owned by Talon Helicopters, was performing low-lying LiDAR scanning in the region to examine gas transmission lines for leaks or other potential issues.
LiDAR is an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging and utilizes remote sensing technology to collect measurements and create 3D models.
FortisBC has contracted the helicopter to use the LiDAR system — which is mounted to the front of the aircraft — and scan the areas around buried gas pipes.
The system can detect if there is a gas leak and help lock in the exact coordinates.
The District of Saanich confirmed in a tweet that the scans will periodically be performed up until Aug. 31 during daylight hours.
Any idea what this low-flying (100ft?) helicopter is doing today in #Victoria? There is some kind of payload on front and side. Imaging? Survey work? Cool to see. #yyj pic.twitter.com/o0B7LOJIYi
— Samuel Starko (@SamStarko) July 28, 2022
Hi Trevor, Talon Helicopters will be performing low level flying with LaSen Inc. for FortisBC between July 11, 2022 and August 31, 2022 during daylight hours.
The work is FortisBC’s annual inspection of its high-pressure natural gas lines. We will make a post about it shortly.
— District of Saanich (@saanich) July 28, 2022
Looks like more LiDAR mapping happening over #YYJ today, the helicopter you may be seeing circling low appears to be the same one that did this work for Fortis back in the fall and has what looks like LiDAR equipment on the front @CHEK_News https://t.co/hlU4VAV2KX pic.twitter.com/LK431LDetR
— Keith Vass (@keithvass) July 28, 2022
CHEK News
