Marine engineers
flying drones into the
unreachable.
55 North Surveys was founded to bring the Elios 3 collision-tolerant drone together with the engineering judgement needed to make the data it captures genuinely useful. We survey the spaces nobody wants to send a person into — and we report on them the way an engineer actually needs to read them.
From the engine room to the inspection bay.
The company was started by a serving marine Chief Engineer who had spent a career inspecting the same kinds of confined, dirty, hard-to-reach assets that the Elios 3 was designed to fly into. The match was obvious: a drone that could safely enter a ballast tank or a cargo hold, flown and reported on by someone who knew what they were looking at.
We now operate across maritime, building, architecture and infrastructure projects throughout Ireland, the UK and beyond. Every job is led personally — there is no handoff between sales, survey and report.
Our promise is straightforward: we will turn up when we said we would, capture what needs to be captured and put a report in your hands that you can actually act on.
How we work.
Every survey removes the need for confined-space entry, working at height or rope access — the drone goes in, our people stay out.
Surveys are interpreted, not just captured. Our marine engineering background means defects are understood in the context of the asset.
Reports, point clouds and imagery are tailored to the audience — class surveyor, structural engineer, facilities manager or designer.
We commit to dates, attend on time and deliver within agreed windows — typically 48–72 hours from capture for standard surveys.
Qualified to fly. Qualified to report.
Unlimited Class 1 Marine Engineer Officer of the Watch and Chief Engineer experience across deep-sea trading vessels.
Qualified flag-state and class-side surveyor under the IMO recognised organisations framework.
Operating under Irish Aviation Authority specific category authorisation, including indoor and confined-space ops.
Trained and certified by Flyability on the Elios 3 LiDAR-equipped collision-tolerant inspection drone.
Confined-space and working-at-height certified support crew for sites where ground crew access is required.
Public liability and aviation hull/third-party insurance in place for commercial UAS operations.