The Australian Pipeliner caught up with Fleet Helicopters after the APGA Convention.
For the team at Fleet Helicopters, the recent APGA Convention represented more than just another trade show. Instead, it marked a coming-together of past relationships, fresh leads and a chance for the company to showcase its continually evolving aerial-capabilities to the pipeline industry.
On the exhibition floor, the foot traffic was steady. “We’ve had some good conversations,” Fleet Helicopters CEO Mike Watson told The Australian Pipeliner. “It sounds like there’s some fairly good, decent-sized construction projects coming up in the future that we hope to be a part of.”
Many of these discussions were with clients that Fleet Helicopters has worked with before. In some cases, those commercial ties go back decades.
“It was interesting to know that there are people still in the industry that we worked with almost 25 years ago,” Watson said.
Other attendees at the stand were new contacts, drawn by Fleet’s proven aerial prowess. One of the standouts on display was the company’s Boreal GasFinderAB laser system, an aerial leak detection technology.
“I think what resonated was the accuracy of the system and its history. People were surprised to hear we’ve been operating it successfully for a long time – the technology has many runs on the board.”
Utilising the Boreal GasFinderAB laser system on board its helicopters, the company is able to scan pipeline infrastructure on an enormous scale to detect gas leaks.
“Our aerial leak detection surveys are much more economical and efficient than traditional ground inspections,” Watson said.
“The system uses an infrared laser that’s tuned to the frequency of light absorbed by methane. It’s very accurate and very sensitive, measuring down to 0.5 parts per million.
“And by measuring at the aircraft, it’s physically reading the gas rather than trying to sense it at a distance.”
Beyond gas detection, Fleet Helicopters also had productive technical conversations around equipment and personnel transport in remote areas. Multi-engine passenger transport, as well as the capability to transport equipment up to 1.5 tonnes, gives Fleet Helicopters a uniquely broad scope that few others can match. These capabilities enable the company to fly into truly remote easements and infrastructure corridors – terrain that wouldn’t be well served by road or fixed-wing operations. Reflecting on 2025, the company has cause to be proud.
The team ticked off a major aerial fault-finding project across New South Wales. The work required capturing high-definition imagery of more than 51,000 utility assets and flying more than 600 hours across roughly 7000km of easement. These numbers underline the scale and ambition of what is now achievable via aerial asset-management technology. Watson said the team is exploring ways to integrate artificial intelligence-based change recognition into these capabilities. In application, this technology would be able to analyse the difference in an asset’s health between surveys.
Looking ahead, Fleet Helicopters is excited about continuing the development of its aerial technology and exploring different avenues where it can be utilised.
“It’s only really limited by your imagination,” Watson said.
If 2025 was about scale, validation and technology build-out, then 2026 looks to be about application, extension and impact. For operators seeking rapid mobilisation of crews and gear, high-precision inspection services or advanced emissions detection capabilities, Fleet Helicopters stands ready to deliver.
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