Drones at Airports, Saving Time and Money: CANARD Drones Inspects PAPI Systems at Madrid Airport

CANARD Drones Completes Inspection of PAPI Systems at Madrid Airport

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Spanish company CANARD Drones, the leader in drone-based solutions for navigation aids systems and airport inspections, has completed the verification and calibration service of PAPI (Precision Approach Trajectory Indicator) systems and the inspection of runway lights and approach landing system of the 18L runway at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, in accordance with the framework laid out by the Strategic Innovation Plan and under Aena’s “Efficient Use of Resources” Program. This marks the first time that such an inspection has been carried out at this location via the use of drones (RPAs), and demonstrates another valid commercial use of drones at airports.

With this undertaking, Aena intends to showcase the viability of drones in this type of use case, with the goal of improving operational efficiency by reducing inspection and calibration times and increasing reliability, cost efficiency and sustainability.

Drones at Airports: the Right Place at the Right Time

This initiative, led by Aena and alongside CANARD, was undertaken at night within a short timeframe, so as not to interfere with the daily activity of the airport. The flight was supervised from the control tower by ENAIRE, the Madrid airport’s provider of air traffic services.

The tests that were carried out met all of the safety requirements put in place by AESA, the State Aviation Safety Agency, for the operation of an unmanned aircraft flight in controlled airspace.

The use of unmanned aircraft solutions such as CANARD Drones’ RPAs, as well as other innovative ideas that Aena is deploying, represents an emerging asset for the organization, whose objective is to promote the use of technological solutions that make processes and application services more efficient in the airport environment.

Read more about the valuable uses of drones at airports: the partnership between American Airlines and DJI, and drone delivery of airplane parts with Acecore at Schiphol.

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.