Avionics News September 2022 - 26

Advertisers Index
Aero Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Aircraft Electronics Association . . . . . . IBC
Aircraft Lighting International . . . . . . . . 15
Aircraft Spruce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Applied Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
AVweb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Cal Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
CiES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Dallas Avionics . . . . . . Inside Front Cover
EDMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back Cover
Elliott Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Garmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Gogo Business Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
L3Harris Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
National Business Aviation Association . . . 51
Pacific Southwest Instruments . . . . . . . 35
Pentastar Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Precision Aviation Group . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Schweiss Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
SmartSky Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Tech-Aid Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
TGH Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Tri-Star Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
True Blue Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
uAvionix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
WBParts Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
26
AVIONICS NEWS * SEPTEMBER 2022
DRONES DELIVERING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR MROS
Continued from page 25
Customers reaping the benefits of new technology
Mainblades and KLM E&M first partnered in 2015 to explore the feasibility
of the technology and demonstrate a proof of concept, and over the years,
KLM E&M has been instrumental in the testing of the Mainblades drone.
The renewal of their partnership in December 2021 marked a shift from
the experimental phase to a new focus on getting Mainblades' automated
inspection solution fully operational for KLM's entire fleet.
" This is an important steppingstone in our strategy toward more efficient
and sustainable maintenance operations at KLM E&M, " according to Serdar
Cifoglu, KLM data scientist. " With several hundred inspections on average per
year, the potential resource savings we are expecting are quite significant. "
In April, Donecle customer LATAM announced that use of automated
drones to inspect aircraft fuselages allowed it to reduce the time needed
for performing inspections from eight hours to 40 minutes. The company
initially began trialing drones in 2019, and following this year's successful
tests, it is expanding its use of inspection drones within its MRO facilities
in Brazil and Chile.
" At LATAM, we see this technology as an opportunity to improve and
optimize our aircraft maintenance and inspection processes, " said Marcos
Melchiori, senior manager MRO São Carlos of LATAM Airlines Group.
" We are constantly looking for new tools that allow us to establish more
efficient and precise processes, with the safety of our passengers and
collaborators as the top priority. "
In the United States, aviation maintenance services provider AAR integrated
Donecle drone technology into its MRO aircraft inspections in late 2019, using
drones to safely perform end-to-end visual inspections of A320 and B737
aircraft in under an hour to check for corrosion and lightning strike damage.
AAR's Miami MRO facility was the first in its global network to use the fully
automated drone technology to drive operational and cost efficiencies, as well
as increases in speed and precision.
AAR representatives have stated that it's important for the company to
be at the forefront of where new technology is being implemented in order
to reap the benefits.
" The exciting part is thinking about everything we do here at AAR,
reimagining as much of that as possible in a digital format, and figuring out
how that makes us better internally but also better providers of service to
our customers and ultimately providing a safer traveling experience for the
traveling passengers, " said Rahul Ghai, AAR chief digital officer.
Ghai views the use of drones for MRO aircraft inspection as an important
way to increase efficiencies and best utilize AAR's skilled workforce. " In the
case of our MRO sites, our investments in technologies like drones, machine
learning and mobile devices will drive a more efficient operation, optimized
technician schedules, as well as improved turnaround times achieved through
faster and more accurate inspections and maintenance plan execution, " he said.
This will lead to ultimately higher customer satisfaction, while helping us build
out richer data to enhance our overall maintenance planning and execution
capabilities. " q
Avionics News September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News September 2022
