“In those early days, the chief engineer was almost always the chief pilot. This automatically meant that bad engineering in aviation was eliminated very early on.” -Igor I. Sikorsky, pilot and aircraft designer

Let us leave it to Igor Sikorsky, the Russian-American pilot and aircraft designer who laid the foundation for the first rotary-wing aircraft, to best summarize the challenge facing the aerospace industry then – and now –: the urgent need for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.

Despite Sikorsky’s dry humor, what you don’t want in real-world scenarios is exactly what the inventor of the helicopter describes. While it’s important to have an attentive pilot, it’s bad form to troubleshoot technical problems in flight. Ideally, troubleshooting should take place on the ground, well before takeoff (airplanes) or liftoff (spaceships).

Today, maintenance, repair and overhaul operations, known as MRO in the manufacturing industry, are a sub-industry all their own.

The estimated global market is valued at $656 billion and is expected to grow to over $800 billion by 2032. Therefore, it is the duty of industry leaders to ensure maximum safety in all aerospace applications. In the broadest sense, MRO refers to the processes and activities that help keep machines, equipment and systems in optimal working condition. This means repairing them when they malfunction and overhauling them when necessary to extend their operational life.

Aerospace and 3D laser technology

MRO is essential in industries such as aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and utilities to ensure the reliability and efficiency of all parts, assemblies and subassemblies. Everything from routine maintenance tasks to corrective repairs is covered and includes disassembling, inspecting, repairing or replacing parts, and reassembling equipment.

The nature of 3D laser scanning technologies (speed of data acquisition, accuracy of results, portability and repeatability of performance) makes them an ideal tool for the aerospace industry, capitalizing on the new renaissance of the public-private sector that is literally heading for the stars.

Now that the industry has largely recouped its recent losses, the next step is growth. As with any manufacturing application, increased throughput is central to this growth; more parts go through quality control and inspection faster, speeding up the MRO process. One of the most important tools in this laser scanner arsenal is the laser tracker.

A laser-focused look at laser trackers

A laser tracker is a precision measuring device that can measure the exact position of objects in space. It uses a laser beam to track a target reflector or retroreflector. The tracker sends laser light toward the reflector and then measures the time it takes for the beam to return. By continuously tracking the position of the reflector, the laser tracker can determine coordinates with high accuracy. These measurements are critical for quality control, alignment, and reverse engineering in aerospace.

Ideal for large-scale applications. Specific aerospace examples include:

• Engines: Overhaul and repair of jet and turboprop engines, ensuring performance and compliance with safety standards
• Chassis: Maintenance and inspection to prevent malfunctions and ensure safe take-offs and landings
• Avionics: Upgrading and repairing electronic systems for navigation, communication and surveillance
• Fuselage and wings: Structural repairs, including the removal of cracks and corrosion
• Hydraulic systems: Maintenance of components for controlling landing gear, brakes and flight control surfaces

Of course, spacecraft also need to be aligned and calibrated, ranging from engines and propulsion systems to solar panels, heat shields, communications systems, and a variety of constantly changing and often updated scientific instruments.

Like any 3D laser scanning tool, laser trackers are useful for ensuring precise alignment of parts. In the aerospace industry, for example, this could include wings/solar panels, fuselage/main body of spacecraft, and engine parts (as mentioned above for aircraft). It can also include component inspection to accurately measure general wear and tear (re-entry speeds in low Earth orbit can exceed 27,000 km/h, at temperatures up to 2,300°C), calibration of tools and fixtures (to ensure that the machines that make the machines are within tolerances), and reverse engineering, which is the creation of detailed models of existing parts for replication or improvement.

Three Orion spacecraft are currently being built for NASA’s planned Artemis missions to the moon, with a fourth already on order. To ensure that four identical spacecraft are truly identical, a device such as a laser tracker can be invaluable.

Staying on track: hardware-software synergy

Beyond the specific aerospace applications, there are other benefits to working with a laser tracker for large part assembly. The most important of these are the overall ease of use and portability of the device. Unlike a traditional coordinate measuring machine, with a laser tracker you don’t have to bring the part you want to measure to the machine. Instead, you can bring the machine to the part. This saves time and increases accuracy because fewer repositionings are required. Additionally, compared to coordinate measuring machines, laser trackers have a less steep learning curve and are safer to use.

In fact, laser trackers make on-site measurement so easy and fast that they reduce inspection cycle times by as much as 75%. These measurements can be compared to nominal CAD data in seconds, allowing teams to either make informed adjustments or move on with confidence. As mentioned above, speed improvements like these increase throughput. Which ultimately gives a boost to the entire aerospace industry.

In addition, there is excellent software compatibility. 3D measurement software allows the operator to take accurate measurements and is ideal for quality assurance and inspection tasks in the aerospace industry.

Designed to manage recurring inspection routines with live trending and statistical process control (SPC) analysis, the software includes the ability to use multiple gauges together to quickly measure large components; measurement-quality networking in STL file format that you can rely on when measuring a “golden part” (a prototype or sample that has been proven to meet all design specifications and tolerances); and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), a standardized method for identifying tolerance limits on the shape, orientation, and position of features on a part.

3D measurement software also offers reporting capabilities that allow companies to share measurement data and results with anyone in their organization at any time. In addition, it delivers real-time inspection results in an easy-to-use set of customizable visual reports and provides insight into process deviations and alerts. This helps avoid time-consuming rework and costly scrap, allowing aerospace companies to improve their maintenance, repair and overhaul operations.

Coming to land

Despite Igor Sikorsky’s enormous intellect and technological foresight, it is difficult to imagine that he himself could have predicted with any accuracy how far the world would have progressed in the half century since his death.

Today, the aerospace industry has matured considerably. What began in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with a 12-second, 120-foot-high flight has now (if you include the Voyager I and II space probes) covered over 15 billion miles and counting. The Federal Aviation Administration reports that its Air Traffic Organization (ATO) handles over 45,000 flights and 2.9 million passengers in an airspace of over 30 million square miles. per day. That’s over 16 million flights per year. The MRO requirements for such a tight schedule are staggering, not to mention the global fleet.

Of course, miles flown and distances traveled are just two metrics in the exciting story of the aerospace industry. What is often overlooked is the work behind the scenes; the time, energy and effort that goes into making sure every aircraft and spacecraft is flightworthy. MRO is the sub-industry that makes all of this possible.

And 3D laser scanning tools like laser trackers in general are helping to radically improve the safety of a range of vehicles that take to the air or space. In addition, they are supporting aerospace engineers in their ongoing efforts to reduce rework, waste and scrap, save time and increase throughput so that the industry as a whole can continue to advance.

Sikorsky may not have foreseen today’s technology, but he was more than right to praise the human ingenuity behind our almost miraculous products.

“Creative work … remains a hugely important factor in the progress of humanity. The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves humanity forward.”

Are you ready to take your aerospace MRO process to the next level?