The new digital service of AkzoNobel helps airlines to optimise the coatings maintenance schedules of aircrafts.
The Aerospace Coatings division of AkzoNobel
has recently announced that it will soon launch the Aerofleet Coatings Management tool, a new digital data-driven service which can help airlines and flight operators to tailor and optimise the maintenance schedule and the eventual replacement of coatings for a single aircraft within an airline fleet.
External coatings have evolved rapidly in the recent years, extending the need to repaint some aircraft for up to a decade or even more. Despite this, however, aircraft still tend to be taken out of service for maintenance every six or seven years without really knowing if a repaint is needed.
“For the first time, the repaint schedules for whole fleets of aircraft can be mapped years in advance and aircraft are only repainted when needed, not according to a fixed time schedule alone. Often, planes are repainted whilst the coating still has life left in it. Using our service will reduce costs while increasing aircraft availability by anything up to a year. Over time, the frequency with which aircraft need to be repainted will fall, which is significantly better for the planet,” has explained Michael Green, the Business Services Manager at AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings.
The Aerofleet Coatings Management allows to capture the data from inspections, creating a database of every aircraft in a fleet. The history includes details of the coatings along with flight path data – such as weather conditions – that might affect the integrity and the longevity of the coating applied.
The manual inspections can be further enhanced by automated inspections conducted by drones flying in a set grid over the surface of an airplane, taking up to 1,000 HD photos. The machine learning algorithm then analyses the pictures and identifies issues on the paint surface in the same way every time in less than an hour.
The inspection service is provided by experts within AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings
using a digital application that stores the information collected, such as dry film thickness, colour variation, gloss and general appearance, providing an Audit Report on an iPad or tablet. The data is then fed back to a database which tracks the performances of the fleet over time.
“By analysing this information and mapping it over time, a more accurate maintenance and repaint schedule can be calculated. Put simply, it becomes easier and more accurate to determine when an aircraft needs to be repainted, rather than simply using time or flight hours,” has continued Green.