Could drones make their way into the everyday domain of aircraft visual inspections?
Drones and drone technology are being tested in aircraft MRO operations due to their ability to enhance efficiency, safety and precision. However, the regulatory background to make such solutions implementable at an industry-wide level is not yet fully developed.
Testing experience
Lufthansa Technik has tested drone-based visual inspections of aircraft surfaces on various occasions during which the company was able to gain comprehensive in-depth insights, according to a spokesperson for Lufthansa Technik. “However, due to various regulatory and practical aspects, as of now we still do not consider drone-based inspections ready for entry into our daily MRO routine yet,” the spokesperson said. “This might change with further advancements of the technology; hence we will surely keep on closely monitoring future developments of this technology.”
Donecle offers an automated drone combined with advanced image analysis software and cloud‑based digital history for aircraft inspections. “This solution inspects aircraft from nose to tail, indoors or outdoors, 10 times faster than manual methods,” explains Adélaïde Poisson, marketing and communication manager at Donecle.
She adds: “It is applicable on a wide range of inspections, such as lightning strike inspections, general visual inspections (GVI), paint, markings and decals, dent detection, etc. The solution can perform automatic input/output comparison for engines and landing gears, catch top quality escape and perform configuration control.
“The solution works in three steps, including scanning the aircraft or component with the Iris GVI drone and the Iris Scan ground software station, reporting all findings with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) on Iris Report software and tracking past inspections on a secured cloud named Iris Track.”
Evolving inspection methods
An aviation source speaking to MRO Management claims that aircraft inspection methods have been evolving in the past years. “Drone technology is grabbing the attention of many maintenance organisations due to its potential,” they point out. “Such initiatives have been in the radar for the past several years and they look promising to replace the current GVIs using the technicians’ sight with a drone that can collect images and treat them by making use of software.”
GVIs seem to be the obvious use case as they can be used after a lightning strike, for which a complete GVI to the external surfaces is required, according to the aviation source. “These include areas that are more difficult to reach like the upper fuselage and the wings’ top skin, which requires the use of equipment to reach these heights,” they explain. “So, there are potential benefits such as increasing technicians’ safety by not exposing them to work at the highest parts of the aircraft for external surfaces inspection and increasing the inspection speed as a drone’s flight time for inspection is expected to be less than, for example, the time that a technician would need by using a cherry-picker.”
The aviation source adds: “Additional potential benefits include improving damage assessment quality – if the software is developed to a point that could automatically assess damage, improving the readiness of damage reports and reducing the risk of impact damage caused by the ground support equipment used to reach high areas of the aircraft for inspection.”
The flight of Donecle’s drone is 100% automated with no pilot and the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is equipped with a patent laser positioning technology, explains Poisson. “The drone is flying around the external aircraft body, following a pre-defined path on a digital mock-up of the aircraft, thus inspecting all hard-to-reach areas,” she says. “The system does not use global positioning system (GPS), beacons or other external installations. All sensors are on-board which eliminates the need for cherry pickers or scaffolding, reducing manual work at height and increasing safety.”
Post-flight, images are analysed on a tablet, allowing parallel tasks and reducing overall inspection time, improving aircraft availability, affirms Poisson. “Data acquired by the drone enables quick identification of issues, allowing parallel tasks. This reduces aircraft downtime, helping aircraft return to service faster,” she says.
Looking further ahead
According to the aviation source, there are not only use cases for line maintenance operations. “Another possible use case could be related to automatic damage/repair mapping which is an airworthiness requirement,” they explain. “This is commonly known as ‘dent & buckle chart’, and it is deeply revised during heavy maintenance checks.”
The aviation source adds: “Using a drone to map repairs and damage would lead to more accurate records during the whole lifetime of the aircraft, which could also speed up processes such as airworthiness inspections, or lease transitions.”
Despite being a promising technology, the use of drones in aircraft MRO operations must go through all the regulatory and safety requirements and show that it is more accurate than the human eye, according to the aviation source. “Currently, the technology is not yet mature enough to be widely used. Any technology that reaches this potential will become an achievement for the aircraft maintenance industry.”
The Donecle drone is listed in the Airbus aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) for the A320 family with EASA acceptance, and it has recently been included in Boeing’s AMM for the B737, observes Poisson. “More OEMs and regulators are reviewing and approving solutions like ours,” she concludes.
This feature was first published in MRO Management – November/December 2024. To read the magazine in full, click here.
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