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Bird’s

Eye View

AIRCRAFT INSPECTION WITH UAVS ARE end of the year, with the two parties already
BECOMING POPULAR WITH AIRLINES AND MROS discussing the possibility of using the drones
for Embraer E-Jet inspections as well.
Arun Sivasankaran
“Innovative systems such as these drones
When Toulouse-based Donecle started flight testing its aircraft-in- perfectly support us to further enhance our
spection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system in 2015 and then stability in flight operations and avoid flight can-
began developing it the next year along with Air France Industries– cellations,” says Michael Kaye, Vice President
KLM Engineering & Maintenance, the concept was still something Austrian Airlines Technical Operations.
of a novelty to the industry. Donecle and the carrier have also joined hands
A lot has happened since then. Drone-based aircraft inspections for a technical partnership on the lightning
are fast becoming the norm, and leading industry experts believe strike use case. Inspecting an aircraft with
that Inspection UAVs will become an essential part of most inspec- Donecle’s drone system will reduce the time
tion hangars within the next couple of years. taken to inspect an aircraft after lightning to
“In 2019, we will see the first real roll outs,” Christian Suttner, less than two hours. A traditional annual pro-
Starburst co-founder and managing partner, said at MRO Europe cess takes more anything between six to ten
in 2018. “Then, in 2019-20, a big rush will come.” hours.

As far as predictions go, Suttner’s is one of the more accurate A relatively new entrant into the aircraft
ones. Airlines and MROs have been lining up in recent months to inspection drone market is ST Engineering’s
trial the various products that are out in the market. It is easy to Aerospace arm, which announced in June that
see why there is so much excitement: the use of drones can cut it had joined hands with Air New Zealand for
down aircraft inspection time by as much as 80 percent, reduce inspection trials of its DroScan UAV, at its facility
expenses drastically, help in preventative maintenance planning next to Changi Airport in Singapore where the
and produce results that are more accurate. aircraft arrives for heavy maintenance checks.
The drone takes a pre-determined route around
the outside of an aircraft to inspect its surface
Creating a Buzz and produce high definition images that are
In September this year, Austrian Airlines, a member of the Lufthansa processed using a software with smart algo-
Group, announced that it would be using Donecle’s automated rithms to detect and classify defects. Aircraft
drones to detect paint and structural damage on its fleet of 36 engineers can review and confirm the findings
Airbus A320 family aircraft. Trials are expected to last until the
or carry out further inspection for defects if

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