Drones to be Deployed for Pre-flight Check on Aircraft
An American company called Near Earth Autonomy has begun developing and successfully testing autonomous Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS). These small autonomous drones will conduct pre-flight checks in a safer and more efficient manner. These drones were being developed as part of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research programme in conjecture with Boeing. The company has tested several rounds of its uncrewed solutions to perform pre-flight checks on Boeing aircraft in the past six years.
The company claims that its drones can cut down inspection times from about four hours to less than 30 minutes. It can also decrease the chances of human error and injury to inspection crew who usually climb atop the aircraft for complete inspection.
With financial backing from Boeing and NASA, Near Earth has developed a commercial ready sUAS solution under its subsidiary called Proxim. This device can fly around the aircraft autonomously and gather data for inspection like photos and recordings. It follows a task card-based approach that is based on FAA regulations to complete its inspection runs, which this card helps the drone determine its flight path.
These images and recordings collected by the drone can be analysed remotely from any location, meaning an airline can have experts for inspection without any injury risks to them. These new images can be compared with older ones to find out any faults like cracks, leaks, missing rivets, etc.
Near Earth asserts that utilising drones for inspections can significantly reduce delays and save up to $10,000 per hour in earnings typically lost during manual inspections. This innovative uncrewed solution has also garnered support from NASA, reflecting their confidence in the project’s potential.
