Florianópolis Airport begins drone testing for aerodrome inspection

Florianópolis Airport begins drone testing for aerodrome inspection

November 13 2020

Florianópolis International Airport starts testing drones this month for inspection services at the airport site. The initiative is unprecedented in airports in Brazil.

“Drones in and around airports are considered a problem. For us, it's a solution. The drone can be a great ally for better monitoring and inspection of different areas of the airport” observes Fabio Marques, Operations Director for the airports of Florianópolis, Vitória and Macaé.

Initially, the inspection with a drone, equipped with a camera, will serve the areas of Safety, Maintenance, Fauna Control and SGSO (Operational Safety Management Systems). Among the advantages of using the equipment are: 

  • registration of inaccessible places from the airport site, such as areas of dense vegetation;
  • more agility and complementation in inspections of the infrastructure of yards, taxiways, maneuver areas and runways;
  • better and greater control of the fauna around the airport, ensuring preventive action to protect animals and operational safety;
  • recording the information in a higher quality database.

The use of drones at the airport was made possible by an agreement with the Floripa Airport, a subsidiary of the Zurich Airport Group that manages the Florianópolis airport, and the Florianópolis Air Space Control Detachment (Dtcea). The concessionaire trained a specialized team to fly the equipment, approved the tests with the regulatory bodies and made the necessary registrations of team and equipment for the authorization of flights. THE Floripa Airport reinforces that any other use of drones by unauthorized persons in the vicinity of the airport remains prohibited.