Digital Service for Improving Coatings' Maintenance Schedules

Photo Credit: AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings

Aerofleet Coatings Management from AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings is a digital, data-driven service that helps airlines and other large operators to tailor and optimize the coatings’ replacement and maintenance schedule for individual aircraft within an airline fleet.

External coatings have evolved rapidly in the last decade from single-stage to base coat/clearcoat systems, extending the need to repaint some aircraft for up to 10 years or even more. Despite this, aircraft still tend to be taken out of service for maintenance every six or seven years without actually knowing if a repaint is needed.

Aerofleet Coatings Management addresses this issue by capturing the data from both manual inspections and drone-operated inspections, creating a database of every aircraft in a fleet. The history includes details of the coatings used (for example, single or base coat/clearcoat coatings) along with flight path data (for example, weather conditions and more) which affect the integrity/longevity of the coating applied.

Michael Green, segment business services manager at AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings, says that by analyzing 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,” he says. “Schedules can be created that balance the practical performance of a coating and where the aircraft in a fleet are being operated (i.e. the different flight paths, distances, heights, environment etc.) against the aesthetic/marketing (i.e. branding) and business needs of the airline.”

Said to be well suited for fleets in excess of 100 aircraft, the inspection service is provided by experts within AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings using a digital application. The app stores the information collected, such as dry film thickness, color variation, gloss and general appearance, as an audit report on an iPad or tablet. The data is then fed back to a database which tracks the fleet’s performance over time.

Manual inspections can be further enhanced by automated inspections conducted by drones. The drones fly in a set grid over the plane's surface, taking up to 1,000 HD photos. This standardizes the inspection and makes it less subjective. The drones’ machine learning algorithm analyzes the photos and identifies issues on the paint surface in exactly the same way every time. It is also faster and more in-depth than a manual inspection; an automated drone can scan an entire narrow body aircraft in less than an hour.

Whether digitally recording data manually or via a drone, the objective is to only have an aircraft on the ground when it is actually needed. The inspection will help aircraft get repainted only when needed, not according to a fixed time schedule. The company says planes are often repainted while the coating still has life left to it, so utilizing the Aerofleet Coatings Management service will help reduce costs while increasing aircraft availability.

Aerofleet Coatings Management is part of a range of support and enhanced training services through AkzoNobel Aerospace Business Solutions, an entity bringing further structure and rigor to many of the services provided by AkzoNobel’s technical support teams.