Safety & Security
A4A/SAE NDT Innovation Award Honors Team for First FAA-Accepted Automatic Drone-Based Aircraft Inspection Program
September 16, 2025
WASHINGTON, September 16, 2025 — Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, and SAE International will jointly present the 21st Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Innovation Award at the A4A Nondestructive Testing Forum on September 23, 2025. The award will be presented to a team from Delta Air Lines and integrator Mainblades that developed and deployed the first FAA-accepted, drone-assisted autonomous general visual inspection (GVI) of aircraft surface defects.
This accepted alternative GVI technique aims to increase safety and reduce inspection time while also introducing a new high resolution imaging process associated with identifying aircraft defects via applied technology.
This innovation has improved worker safety by significantly reducing the need for maintenance inspectors to physically access the upper body of the aircraft, which exposes inspectors to higher risks of personal injury. The drones also include anti-collision sensor systems and pre-programmed flight path navigation to prevent any impact to an aircraft during inspection while maintaining a continuous distance from the aircraft’s surface.
The FAA has accepted Delta and Mainblades’ outdoor drone flight inspection application at three airports — Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) which is applicable to Delta’s entire fleet of 17 models and approximately 990 aircraft.
Following an automated drone flight of an aircraft, inspectors evaluate high-resolution images of the aircraft surfaces to identify defects that would have otherwise been identified by direct physical inspection within arm’s length. The types of defects include obvious conditions such as loose or damaged fasteners, corrosion, scratches, dents and even lightning strikes.
Members of the 2025 NDT Innovation Award team include the following:
- Malcolm Berner, Inspector, Delta Air Lines
- Tom Rogowski, CEO, MainBlades
- Emma Galarza, Senior Engineer, Delta Air Lines
- Mike Holland, Inspector, Delta Air Lines
- John Mathis, Manager, Technology Development Engineering, Delta Air Lines
- Alex Melton, Manager, NDT Programs, Delta Air Lines
- David Piotrowski, Senior Principal Engineer, Delta Air Lines
- Ed Poole, Inspector, Delta Air Lines
- Dave Stape, General Manager – Regulatory Compliance, Delta Air Lines
- Floris Straver, MainBlades
- Al Harmon, MainBlades
- Mark Watton, Manager, ODA Engineering, Delta Air Lines
“A4A congratulates this year’s award recipients for developing the FAA’s first accepted inspection method utilizing autonomous drones, which has dramatically improved safety for inspectors who perform visual inspections at height,” said Justin Madden, A4A Vice President for Safety and Technical Operations. “Delta Air Lines and Mainblades’ application creates a whole new image reference library to track ongoing fleet conditions to make informed engineering decisions.”
A4A’s Nondestructive Testing Forum will mark its 66th year from September 22-25, in Fort Worth, Texas, where industry leaders, NDT inspectors and aircraft engineers will meet to discuss current trends, issues and successes in NDT methodologies. The event features several presentations on achievements and lessons learned about technologies that help ensure the longevity and safety of aircraft structures by detecting defects well before they can be seen or cause a failure.