Near Earth Autonomy develops aircraft inspection by drone

A small business out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has developed a time-saving drone-based solution for conducting pre-flight inspections of commercial airliners with the help of NASA and The Boeing Company.

Aircraft inspection drones

Before each flight, airliners are required to undergo a readiness inspection that ensures the aircraft is safe to fly. This can take up to four hours and involves workers climbing on and around the plane to check for any problems, which can be dangerous and sometimes results in human error.

After developing the solution through NASA‘s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and in partnership with The Boeing Company, inspection times have been cut down to less than 30 minutes and completely removed the need for personnel to do any sort of climbing.

“NASA has worked with Near Earth Autonomy on autonomous inspection challenges in multiple domains. We are excited to see this technology spin out to industry to increase efficiencies, safety, and accuracy of the aircraft inspection process for overall public benefit,” shared Danette Allen, NASA senior leader for autonomous systems.

Commercialised under Near Earth Autonomy brand Proxim, it follows a pretty similar formula to many other drone inspections.

First images of the aircraft are captured autonomously inline with the Federal Aviation Administration’s rules for commercial aircraft inspection. The images are then processed and shared remotely with inspection experts.

These images can then be compared to previous inspections to see if a crack or issue is getting worse overtime or if something new has popped up since the last inspection.

Near Earth Autonomy has been trailing its solution over the last six years on Boeing aircraft being flown by American Airlines and Emirates Airlines. The solution can help save an average of $10,000 per hour in lost revenue caused by unexpected ground time due to operational issues.

Also, early last year, the Near Earth Autonomy team successfully tested their system at Dover Air Force Base, enabling drones to inspect the C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft, whose tail stands at an impressive height of 65 feet.

About NASA’s SBIR program

NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program supports innovative ideas generated by small businesses looking to build solutions that NASA and the industry are interested in. The current interests are shared at an annuall briefing and focus on technology that has significantt potential to be commercialised.

Image via Near Earth Autonomy