In Phoenix, heat is the story. A loose electrical connection, a water-logged roof, a dead solar string, an overheating motor — every one of them shows up as a temperature difference before it shows up as a failure. We fly FAA-certified radiometric infrared missions that find those problems from the air, safely and fast, and hand you a report with the numbers to back it up.
FAA Part 107 Certified · Fully Insured · LAANC Authorized · 5.0★ from 271 Google reviews
Desert Drones is an FAA Part 107–certified drone services company providing aerial thermal (infrared) inspections across metro Phoenix and Arizona — building envelope and roof-moisture scans, electrical and mechanical equipment surveys, and solar-array fault detection. We fly calibrated radiometric sensors that record a temperature for every pixel, deliver annotated infrared reports paired with matching visible-light imagery, and turn most inspections around within 48 hours.
A thermal camera sees the one thing a normal inspection can't: temperature. Flown from the air, it covers a whole roof, array, or facility in a single pass — no ladders, no shutdowns, no guessing.
You get an inspection you can act on and hand to a contractor, insurer, or facilities team — not a folder of orange pictures.
A west Phoenix commercial roof shows exactly what a radiometric drone survey delivers. Flown post-sunset — when a hot roof gives up its stored heat and trapped moisture lights up — the scan turned a 100,000-plus-square-foot membrane into one measurable heat map.
On a west Phoenix commercial flat roof we flew a post-sunset radiometric survey — because wet insulation holds the day's heat far longer than dry membrane, trapped moisture glows against the cooling roof and maps itself.
RADIOMETRIC · POST-SUNSET
Every thermal frame stitched into a single measurable orthomosaic of the entire roof — anomalies numbered and located, with one buckled-membrane area flagged for a cut-test to confirm the moisture before any tear-off.
ORTHOMOSAIC · COMMERCIAL
Each thermal anomaly is delivered next to a matched high-resolution visible-light frame of the same spot — so the building owner and roofer can see the heat signature and the physical defect in one view, not guess.
PAIRED · ANNOTATEDRoof and envelope moisture is where a radiometric scan pays off fastest in Phoenix, but the same sensor and workflow find overheating electrical connections, failing motors, and dead solar strings — flown across the Valley and statewide. Every thermal job uses a calibrated radiometric sensor, not a color-map filter, so the temperatures in your report are real.
Most thermal jobs are a single flight — here's how it goes from call to report.
Roof, solar array, electrical yard, or facility — we scope what you need imaged and when the thermal contrast will be best (often just after sunset in Phoenix).
Calibrated infrared sensor, LAANC authorization pulled ahead of time, full coverage in one pass with matching visible-light frames.
We stitch thermal orthomosaics, pull temperatures, and flag anomalies the day of the flight.
You get the numbered, located, measured report within 48 hours — ready for your contractor, insurer, or facilities team.
Desert heat is both the reason you need thermal and the thing that makes it tricky to fly. Here's how we plan around it.
On a 110° day a roof or array holds heat long after dark. We fly in the post-sunset window when wet insulation and dead solar cells show the sharpest thermal contrast against the cooling surface.
Phoenix has one of the densest rooftop-solar footprints in the country. An aerial IR pass checks an entire array for hot spots and dead strings in minutes instead of a panel-by-panel ground crawl.
After storm season, water trapped under a membrane reads as thermal mass. We can baseline a roof before monsoon and re-scan after to pinpoint exactly where water got in.
Most Valley sites sit under Sky Harbor, Deer Valley, Chandler, or Mesa Gateway airspace. We pull the LAANC authorization before every flight — no compliance gaps.
On a Valley job, the difference between a licensed pro and a hobbyist is legal, insurable, and visible in the deliverables.
Thermal clients often bundle these — flown by the same Part 107 team, same day when it makes sense.
A real calibrated radiometric sensor. Every pixel records an actual temperature, so our reports give you measured degrees and deltas — not a color-map effect laid over a normal photo.
Trapped roof moisture and insulation gaps, overheating electrical connections and equipment, and solar-array faults like dead cells, hot spots, and offline strings — anything that runs hotter or cooler than it should.
No. Thermal is captured from the air at a safe standoff distance while equipment runs under normal load — which is exactly when heat faults are visible.
Usually just after sunset. A hot surface cooling in the evening gives the sharpest contrast between good material and a wet, dead, or overheating spot.
FAA Part 107 certified and fully insured. We provide a certificate of insurance on request and pull LAANC authorization for controlled Valley airspace.
Most thermal inspections are delivered within 48 hours as an annotated PDF with paired infrared and visible-light imagery.
Rated 5.0★ from 271 verified Google reviews across our locations.
John and team are the consummate professionals! Very reliable, quick, and high quality deliverables!
Professional, efficient, and easy to work with. The team delivered clean, high-quality aerials and communicated clearly throughout the project.
Needed work done quickly for drone photography. They responded quickly, knew exactly what was required, and explained it well — great customer service.
John was a professional and very knowledgeable. He made the process of getting drone footage seamless and did an exceptional job.
Absolutely amazing experience with Desert Drones. They did a shoot for my business and made my product really speak for itself!
John is a true professional. Every time we need drone photography or videography done, he is excited to take on the project.
Tell us what you need scanned — a roof, an array, an electrical yard, or a whole facility — and we'll get you a quote and a flight date.
