Although the production of the Boeing 757 ended in 2005, it is still considered one of the most capable narrow-body aircraft in service. There are still around 500 aircraft in active service.

The Boeing 757 is struck once or twice a year by lightning and given the global fleet in the world, this results in 500 to 1000 lightning strikes per year.

Despite the frequency of lightning strikes, no major aircraft incidents have occurred for the Boeing 757.  

In 2015, Icelandair Flight 671 was hit by a lightning strike shortly after takeoff from Keflavik International Airport in Reykjavik, Iceland. The lightning strike caused the tearing of the protective skin of the aircraft. As the standard protocol post-lightning strike states, the pilots checked all the systems to evaluate the safety of the aircraft and continued the 3,740-mile journey to Denver. After landing, the lightning strike inspection revealed a hole in the aircraft’s nose. Marked with the word Herðubreið, the name of an extinct volcano in Icelandic Northern Highlands, the aircraft was repaired and returned to service. 

After the aircraft is struck by lightning, the aircraft is grounded and thoroughly inspected for damage such as pits and burn marks by aircraft maintenance engineers to guarantee its airworthiness before the next flight. The inspection alone requires 2 licensed aircraft maintenance engineers and 8 hours to complete. The total man-hours for a Boeing 757 lightning strike inspection are 16 hours.

To assess the status of the aircraft, the aircraft maintenance engineers will move from station to station, from stringer to stringer, using additional equipment to inspect the top of the fuselage and the tail. The tail is 16 meters high and not easy to reach while the aircraft elevators and stabilizers are blocking the man lifter equipment. Often during the inspection, additional damage can be caused.

The use of drones for aircraft inspections brings game-changing results for the aviation industry and particularly Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) companies and organizations. All aspects of the inspection procedure, from drone flight to report generation, are automated, allowing the ground team to easily analyze and report the status of an aircraft.

In the event of a lightning strike, using a drone to perform aircraft inspection on the Boeing 757 can decrease the inspection time by 60%. A drone can speed up the entire process of the General Visual Inspection (GVI) during a lightning strike inspection, which can now be performed in minutes (60 minutes) instead of hours (8 hours). Our drone will safely fly around the aircraft and capture high-resolution pictures, allowing aircraft maintenance engineers to make a much faster damage assessment.