Best known for cheap fares and an overwhelming amount of day-glow orange decor, English budget airline easyJet announced its plans to integrate drone and augmented reality technology to inspect and troubleshoot its fleet of Airbus jets.
According to the airline, the integration of these advanced technologies will cut costs and delays by reducing aircraft repairs times.
“Drone technology could be used extremely effectively to help us perform aircraft checks. Checks that would usually take more than a day could be performed in a couple of hours and potentially with greater accuracy,” said easyJet’s engineering chief Ian Davies.
Instead of having engineers inspect aircraft visually, the automated drone will scan, take 3D images of potential damage areas, and then report back to the engineers. Drone scans will allow for more effective inspection of hard-to-reach areas on the aircraft and will also allow engineers to focus their attention on urgent issues, the company said.
