Certified to Inspect: What FPSO, Wastewater, and Confined-Space Missions Teach Us About Competency and Compliance

Inspection and program certifications for drone-based industrial work are quickly becoming one of the most important—and least understood—parts of professional drone inspection programs. Beyond the FAA Part 107, asset owners and regulators increasingly require credentials from bodies like Lloyd’s, DNV, and ABS, especially for maritime and offshore work. These certifications determine who can legally inspect cargo tanks, FPSOs, flare stacks, and other high-risk assets—and whether drone operations truly meet the codes and standards they’re meant to support.

In this webinar, MFE’s Zacc Dukowitz sits down with Steve Priestley of Altomaxx, the world’s only ISO-accredited certification body for unmanned inspection services, to explore why these standards exist, what they require, and how they close the competency gap between “licensed to fly” and “qualified to inspect.”

Then we shift to real-world case studies with Steve and Jared Seufert, who flies many of the drone missions for Altomaxx, highlighting how certification and competency translate directly into performance in the field. We’ll examine an FPSO tank inspection conducted in rough seas using Flyability’s Elios 2—one of the most demanding confined-space missions in the industry—along with two wastewater inspections and a flare stack inspection.