Page 21 - AAA JULY - SEPTEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

[ MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL ]
required. “We’ve trialed using DroScan on a eliminates the need for paper records, thus speeding up mainte-
number of our aircraft undergoing maintenance nance and improving accuracy.Colombian carrier Avianca, which in
inspections in Singapore now and believe 2016 announced that it was internally developing an autonomous
using a drone will also help improve inspection drone to inspect grounded aircraft for damage caused by lightning
quality,” says Air New Zealand Chief Ground and bird strikes, has shelved such plans for the moment and is
Operations Officer Carrie Hurihanganui. “In testing out Donecle’s drones. According to Miguel Angel Montoya
future, there may be an opportunity to use the Estrada, Avianca’s VP of engineering and maintenance, the drones
device in New Zealand, for example to conduct are capable of reducing inspection time from eight hours to as less
ad hoc inspections after lightning strikes.” as 30 minutes. AFI-KLM and El Al Israel Airlines are also inspecting
EasyJet, which had been trialing the use of their aircraft with Donecle drones.
inspection UAVs along with British drone
maker Blue Bear Systems Research since SR Technics has chosen a slightly different path and picked a robot
2014, officially introduced the RAPID (Remote instead of a drone for aircraft inspections. The MRO has signed up
Automated Plane Inspection & Dissemination) with New Zealand-based Invert Robotics for the use of its mobile
aircraft inspection system in 2018 at its mainte- climbing robots, which moves along aircraft surfaces to provide

nance hangars at airports Gatwick and Luton. visual inspections in a fraction of the time it takes to complete the
Thomas Cook Airlines also uses RAPID to process manually. The robot, which uses a suction mechanism to
inspect larger Airbus A330s. adhere to and traverse a range of surfaces including aluminium,
glass and carbon fibre, is equipped with high-definition cameras and
The RAPID drone, a collaboration between Blue sensor technology that helps it transmit video images to a ground-
Bear Systems and Irish aircraft engineering based screen for real-time analysis by line-maintenance staff.
software specialists Output 42, is derived from
RISER ((Remote Intelligent Survey Equipment Airbus Enters the Fray
for Radiation), a Blue Bear drone that creates With the inspection drone market expected to take off over the
3D pictures of damaged or contaminated sites. next decade, Airbus has entered the ring with the Airbus’ Advanced
According to MRO Drone, RAPID can reduce Inspection Drone. Designed for use inside a hangar, the drone,
aircraft inspection times by up to 90% and is which was unveiled at MRO Americas in 2018, has been devel-
capable of inspecting a narrowbody exterior in oped in co-operation with Testia, its subsidiary. Designed for an
30 minutes and a widebody in an hour. automatic general visual inspection of an aircraft, the drone, which
Buoyed by the industry’s response to RAPID, is equipped with the OEM’s aircraft inspection software analysis
MRO Drone announced in April 2018 that it tool, is best used to inspect the upper parts of the aircraft fuselage.
was joining hands with Ubisense to create Small enough to fit inside a large suitcase, the drone can inspect
Smart Hangar, a system that uses sensors an a320 family aircraft in 30 minutes and is capable of inspecting
fitted to various assets within a hangar – includ- every nook and cranny of the aircraft.
ing inspection drones – to provide real time
location information. The use of the system Another company that is making a buzz is MainBlades. In 2015, the
company, which is based in Netherlands, collaborated with KLM
Engineering & Maintenance to visually inspect a Boeing 737-800 for
lightning damage using its drone. The company uses a lightweight
drone that is capable of inspecting a wide body aircraft within two
hours and a narrowbody within an hour. According to the company,
“a human factor is maintained in the loop to ensure a safely exe-
cuted inspection and careful damage evaluation.”

Not Just for Commercial Operators
Inspection drones are increasingly being looked at as an option for
inspection of military aircraft as well. Airbus announced in May this
year that the Spanish Air Force would support the development
of its drone and augmented reality-based maintenance inspection
services. The technology will initially be trialed on Spanish Air Force
A400M aircraft. The two parties will also consider extending the
technology to other aircraft, including the C295 and the CN235.
General José Luis Pardo Jario, head of the Spanish Chief of the Air
Staff office, is excited about the partnership. “This technology has
the potential to make a major contribution to maintenance tasks
for our fleet,” he says. “Not only is it more time and cost efficient,
above all it allows the upskilling of aircraft maintenance personnel,

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