Drone Inspection of Airport Runway Conditions Saves Time, Limits Operational Impacts

Regular runway inspections allow airports to spot concerns and address maintenance issues proactively, supporting safety and improving understanding of asset conditions. But these important inspections, which require closing a runway during the assessment, also pose operational challenges at busy airports.

In August 2025, our geomatics and remote sensing group performed an assessment of the runway at North Platte Regional Airport in Nebraska. Using a drone equipped for high-resolution imagery, the team performed a full scan of the airport’s 8,000-foot runway in about 20 minutes. Flying about 187 feet above the runway, the craft captured images at a ground sample distance (GSD) of 0.10 inches per pixel. The result is images of conditions that can be measured with 2.5-millimeter accuracy.

That imagery is now being analyzed and used to assess rehabilitation needs. The data will be used for distress mapping, to determine a repair plan and needed quantities. Artificial intelligence (AI) crack detection automatically highlights sections for further manual review. 

The approach reduced the amount of time needed on the runway, which meant fewer operational impacts and improved safety for the inspection team, which otherwise would have walked the entire runway manually recording cracks and taking individual photos. It also means a better record of runway conditions, with images of the entire runway available for comparison in future inspections.

And the benefits continue past inspections. Now that the airport has a digital representation of the runway, it can be used to:

• Generate 3D meshes for use in visualization software.
• Create realistic renderings and phasing exhibits to communicate construction impacts clearly.
• Integrate into design and engineering documents, improving accuracy and collaboration.
• Support future innovations like simulation, virtual inspections, and immersive stakeholder presentations.