While not too long ago, drones were mostly associated with either military technology - on one end of the spectrum - or a toy that people can fly around in their free time, on the other, nowadays, drones are ever-so-popular among commercial users. 

Companies in different industries are embracing drones as a means to provide better, faster and more reliable services. 

Take aviation, for example. The aviation industry is still rather conservative, mainly due to the fact that it demands the highest standards of safety possible. If there is something that already fulfills those safety standards, there is no strong push to change it. And that, of course, is completely understandable.

On the other hand, however, the aviation industry is one of the few industries that rely and benefit a lot from high-tech solutions. In order for it to maintain that status, allow further development and ensure its high safety standards, it is crucial to embrace innovative technologies that enhance performance. 

Sure, drones and airports don’t always sound like a good match at first. But they can be. Using drones to perform visual aircraft inspections holds great potential for airlines. Not only are drone inspections easier, they are faster and more cost-efficient, too. 

The fact is that every minute spent on the ground results in operational and financial damage for an airline. And manual inspections often take upward of 10 hours to perform. Picture this:

At the airport in Amsterdam, an airplane with a possible damage takes close to 12 hours to be cleared again for take-off. Now imagine if you could do that six times faster.

You can - and we know just how to help you.

There are two main reasons for embracing drones for visual aircraft inspections while also maintaining high safety standards. Image gathering and damage detection technology have progressed so far that, when applied correctly, they can outperform the old ways of manual inspection. 

There is no doubt that the commercial drone industry is growing. According to recent data, commercial drone revenue in Europe is estimated to go from 361 million U.S. dollars this year to 544 million U.S. dollars in 2020, to over 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. Those numbers are certainly not to go unnoticed. 

It should come as no surprise then that drone-based inspections are becoming more and more of a thing in various industries. Surveying seems to be what drones are mostly used for at the moment, followed closely by inspections, according to the Drone Industry Barometer 2018.

Put the two datasets together and it looks like there is plenty of room to grow in any specific market segment. 

We, at Mainblades, see this potential and aim to make the industry safer, while improving performance and increasing efficiency. Our drone-based solutions digitize and automate the inspection process, which saves airlines a lot of the time, money and resources they were used to spending in the past. This helps speed up not only regular inspections, but unscheduled ones, too. 

To find out more about our solutions, get in touch with us now. 

Written by: Mina Nacheva