EasyJet Turning To Drones For Aircraft Inspections

itwbennett writes: Would you trust your aircraft inspection to a drone? Budget airline easyJet is testing just such a system, aimed at reducing the amount of time an aircraft is out of service. Instead of having humans perform on-site visual inspections, the drone will "fly around an aircraft snapping images, which will then be fed to engineers for analysis."

Comments

Interesting idea with potential

[Registered Coward v2]

With sufficient resolution (as TFA points out) and the ability to finely control the drones this could be a good thing since you could hover near and area and get a closer look; and then do a normal inspection if you still have questions.

Re:Take pictures and look at them later

[ShanghaiBill]

This could be done with a handheld camera as well.

No. It could be done with a handheld camera, plus some platforms and safety harnesses, and plenty of extra hours of work. Inspecting the tail fins, and the top of the fuselage is far easier, quicker, and cheaper with a drone.

Re:Saves having to climb a ladder

[RogueyWon]

I don't work for easyJet. However, I do work in the aviation sector. EasyJet have a phenomenal safety culture and are among the safest airlines in the world. I see this article as evidence that they are investing money in improving their safety practices.

Almost every first-world airline knows that safety is an area where you don't cut corners. If you're not a state-owned flag-carrier, then a single crash can (and probably will) wipe out your whole business. This goes for the low cost carriers as much as for the legacy airlines.

Your prediction is bollocks, pure and simple.

Melodrama

[devnullkac]

Nobody's leaving aircraft inspection to the drones. They're just a tool like any other. As long as there's no question that the images reviewed are of the right aircraft (no spoofing, please), I think it's really no different from using a 20 meter selfie stick to take the pictures.