Damage Assessment of Aircraft and Vehicles

Damage Assessment of Aircraft and Vehicles
Tuesday 2nd February 2010

Modern defence equipment is sophisticated, yet must be maintained at advanced field bases which may be remote - and which may not have access to a local design authority for the equipment. When damage occurs, it can be difficult for the local team to determine the severity, or the appropriate action to take.

(This is also true of commercial aircraft - eg for bird strike or baggage trolley damage assessment in remote airports).

The 3D measurement Quartz scanner provides two approaches to assist with this:

A scan of the damaged area can be compared to a "golden refernce" for the asset. If deformation of a panel is below a threshold, a quick pass/fail decision can be made - backed up by an automated assessment process.
Where damage lies in the "grey area" between pass and fail, the scan data can be communicated back to the design authority - allowing the final decision to be made by the original manufacturer or maintainer.

This optical CMM approach is revolutionising the maintenance of damaged equipment in the field.

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