ST Engineering teams up with Air New Zealand for inspections of aircrafts

A pilotless drone system will produce HD images from inspections of aircraft exteriors.

ST Engineering has tied up with Air New Zealand, to test the use of drones for inspections of aircrafts. The drone inspection tests is taking place at ST Engineering’s facility located next to Changi Airport where Air New Zealand aircraft undergo heavy maintenance monitoring.

ST Engineering has designed a pilotless drone system, called DroScan, to take planned routes around the exterior of an aircraft to inspect its surface and produce high definition images.

These images are refined using a software with smart algorithms to detect and classify damages, which aircraft engineers can review and confirm, or carry out further inspections in any cases of defects if necessary.

The firms are working together to produce and expand the quantity of 3D printed replacement interior parts, and in data analytics to optimize the repair systems.