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Drones in depth 3: payloads and the jobs drones do

Cameras, thermal, multispectral, LiDAR and gas sensors; aircraft and hangar inspection; mapping and surveying; delivery; airport, farm and emergency work, with the numbers that decide each job. Part 3 of the Drones in depth series.

By Aerospace Garage Desk · Managing it · 45 minutes · 24 narrated pages

What you will be able to do

  • ✓ Match a payload to a task, and calculate what its mass costs in hover power and working time.
  • ✓ Plan a drone inspection of an aircraft's upper surfaces, and state what makes the result count in the maintenance record.
  • ✓ Calculate ground sample distance, flying height, line spacing and photo count, and explain why only independent checkpoints show accuracy.
  • ✓ Compare drone and traditional methods on time and cost, for inspection and for delivery, including the value of time saved.
  • ✓ Describe how drones support airport wildlife, debris, pavement and approach-light work, and who must approve on-airport flights.
  • ✓ Outline the rules and the practical numbers for agricultural spraying, and how emergency drone flights are authorised and give way to fire aircraft.

Course content

Session 1 · Payloads: what the drone carries and what it costs

1.1

  1. The payload is the job · free preview
  2. Cameras: zoom and thermal at drone scale
  3. Multispectral, LiDAR and gas sensors
  4. Worked example: a payload for each of Pasochoa's jobs
Session 2 · Aircraft and hangar inspection

1.2

  1. Lightning and hail: what the inspection must find
  2. Planning the flight and making the record count
  3. Drone against cherry-picker: time and cost
  4. From the industry file: drone inspections authorised at a Singapore maintenance organisation
Session 3 · Mapping, surveying and infrastructure

1.3

  1. From photographs to measurements
  2. Ground sample distance and real accuracy
  3. Control points, checkpoints and structures
  4. Worked example: planning the survey of the third-hangar plot
Session 4 · Cargo and medical delivery

1.4

  1. Who delivers by drone, and how far
  2. Drop, lower or land
  3. The business numbers
  4. Worked example: an urgent part for the third hangar
Session 5 · Airports: wildlife, debris, perimeter and approach aids

1.5

  1. Wildlife and debris: extra eyes on the airfield
  2. Fences, pavements and obstacles
  3. Checking lights and navigation aids from the air
  4. Worked example: cross-checking a PAPI unit with a drone
Session 6 · Agriculture and emergency response

1.6

  1. Spraying from the air, closer to the crop
  2. Watching crops, and knowing when to act
  3. Search, rescue and fire support
  4. Worked example: spraying twenty hectares at two thousand eight hundred metres

Who this course is for

  • Airport, MRO and asset managers deciding which inspection, survey and delivery jobs to give to drones
  • Drone programme leads costing a job against a cherry picker, scaffold or road vehicle
  • Engineers planning payloads, image resolution and mission plans for real sites

You need: Drones in depth 2: how drones fly and what they are made of, or equivalent experience.

Upskill courses are for professional development and are not approved by any aviation authority. Learner Terms

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