MRO : Visual inspections by drone is now authorized on narrowbody aircraft in Singapore
Romain Guillot
 le 03/07/2020 , Maintenance aéronautique
MRO : Aircraft Inspection by drone is now authorized in Singapore on narrowbody aircraft
ST Engineering has received the green light from the CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) to be able to use its DroScan solution during aircraft maintenance at its MRO facilities in Singapore (Changi and Seletar). This is the very first authorization granted by CAAS for of an unmanned aerial solution on Singapore-registered aircraft. Numerous tests had so far been successfully carried out with partner operators, including Air New Zealand.
The Singaporean company specifies that it can now use its drone solution on approved single-aisle aircraft such as the Airbus A320 family. The inspection is carried out using a real-time video stream, but the captured images can be fed through algorithms that detect and classify defects to assist the inspectors in the review process. "This is one of the many initiatives that we will roll out progressively to digitally transform our hangars and facilities into a smarter environment" said Lim Serh Ghee, President of Aerospace, ST Engineering.
But ST Engineering goes further and announces that its solution is also equipped with multiple security features that could soon allow the drone to navigate outside a hangar, but still in the grips of Singapore's civil airports. These features include a precise localisation system to navigate in GPS-denied environment, power tethered system for extended flight duration and controlled safety template, multiple sensors for obstacles detection and geo-fencing to prevent the drone from straying out of flight template.
"CAAS is excited by ST Engineering's efforts to use unmanned aerial systems to perform visual inspections on Singapore-registered aircraft. We commend ST Engineering on this initiative to leverage digital technology to enhance productivity and effectiveness in its operations. Such innovations are in line with our vision to digitally transform the aviation industry. Especially, in this current COVID-19 environment, we hope to see an impetus for more of such novel solutions from our Singapore aviation companies", said Kevin Shum, Director-General of CAAS
ST Engineering aims to extend the visual inspection capabilities of its DroScan to new aircraft types, particularly for wide-body aircraft, which are numerous in Singapore, as well as to new robotic solutions for inspections that involve contact-based measurements.
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