Skip to main content

Korean Air first carrier to use drone swarms for aircraft inspection

Advancements in drone technology over recent years have encouraged an increasing number of airlines to utilize the flying machines for aircraft safety inspections.

However, in what’s thought to be an industry first, Korean Air has started using a swarm of drones for visual inspections in a process that dramatically cuts the time it takes to complete such a task.

One of Korean Air's inspection drones.
A drone used by Korean Air for the inspection of its aircraft. Korean Air

“Whereas maintenance specialists previously had to perform a visual check of the aircraft fuselage from heights of up to 20 meters, drone inspections improve workplace safety and allow for increased accuracy and speed,” the carrier said in a release.

Recommended Videos

Korean Air has designed and built its own drone for the job. The machine, a quadcopter, is 39 inches (1 meter) across and weighs 12.1 pounds (5.5 kg).

Please enable Javascript to view this content

During an inspection activity, which takes place inside an aircraft hangar, Korean Air uses four of the drones at the same time. Each one is equipped with high-tech cameras capable of identifying details as small as 0.04 inches (1 mm) in size.

The drones are powered by custom software that directs them to gather imagery from specific parts of the aircraft. If one or more of the drones fails during the mission, the remaining drones are programmed to take over and complete the work.

The carrier said that using four drones together enables its engineering team to reduce inspection time from 10 hours to just four.

“Korean Air shares inspection data through the cloud, enabling employees to easily check inspection results anywhere and anytime,” the carrier said. “The airline has also applied a collision avoidance system and geo-fencing to maintain safety distances from surrounding facilities and prevent break-aways from the mission area.”

Operators of the drone-based inspection procedure are working to increase the accuracy of the process through ongoing trials. If these go according to plan, Korean Air will aim to officially implement the swarm system sometime next year.

We first heard about airlines using drone technology for aircraft inspection in 2015 when European low-cost carrier easyJet revealed it was testing its own system. More recently, Austrian Airlines started using drones for the same kind of work.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Mavic Air 2 has an advanced feature not seen on other consumer drones
mavic air 2 safety feature is a first for consumer drones

Drone fans are likely to give DJI’s latest offering a close look when it hits stores next month.

The $800 Mavic Air 2 is, as its name suggests, the successor to the original Air, with the foldable flying machine packing plenty of new features to keep pilots happy.

Read more
Apple is eyeing AirPods with camera and health sensors as a priority
Simon Cohen wearing Apple AirPods 4.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sat for an interview with Wired and dished on Apple’s focus in the foreseeable future. Health and wellness stood out as a recurring element. AirPods, which recently landed a hearing assistance facility, are visibly at the center of those ambitions. Now, Bloomberg reports that the earbuds will soon add cameras and health sensors to their arsenal.

At one point in time, Apple was reportedly working on integrating cameras into the wireless earbuds, but the project was put on ice. It seems that the recent explosion of AI-based workflows across nearly every product category inspired Apple to revive the endeavor.

Read more
Waymo’s robotaxis are safer than human-driven vehicles, study says
A Waymo robotaxi picking up a passenger.

Love them or hate them, but robotaxis have certainly been making headlines in 2024. And beyond the glamorous, sci-fi-inspired marketing around Tesla’s recently unveiled Cybercab robotaxi, safety has remained, in one way or another, a recurring theme.

Earlier this year, a survey revealed a majority of the U.S. public, or 68%, brought up safety concerns when asked what they thought about having self-driving vehicles (SDVs) on public roads. Yet within that majority, more than half either believe that SDV safety issues can be addressed or that SDVs will actually be safer than humans.

Read more