At a glance
The goal
Drones make it much easier and faster to inspect industrial plants from the air, and they also provide helpful services in the event of fires and in assessing damage, for example after extreme weather conditions. There are also numerous possible applications in plant security. Where plant boundaries need to be monitored, a drone can support emergency personnel from the air, for example. The images captured from the air can then be transmitted directly to headquarters. These are all reasons why Evonik is also pushing ahead with the increased use of drones on the plant premises.
The implementation
Evonik already uses drones for very different applications. Evonik therefore wants to establish a Group-wide standard for drone operation and bring drone controllers up to a uniform level of knowledge. To this end, Droniq experts held two-day training courses at the Marl, Hanau, and Wesseling sites over the past two years. These consisted of a block of theory in which the topics of air law, flight operations and navigation, data protection and copyright as well as the technology of a multicopter were covered. On the second day, the participants were able to test their flight practice. After an introduction to flight planning and preparation, the Evonik employees flew various aircraft. The participants also successfully passed the test for proof of knowledge in accordance with Section 21d of the German Air Traffic Regulations (LuftVO).
Our contribution
Droniq is a service provider for Evonik in the area of unmanned aerial vehicles and has already supported the company in applying for ascent permits for the Marl, Hanau, and Wesseling sites. In order to create a standard on the part of the controllers as well, the Droniq experts trained around 40 Evonik employees with a classroom course to acquire the certificate of knowledge in accordance with §21d LuftVO. In the practical part of the training - "Practical course and qualification test for BOS drone pilots" - the company's own aircraft were used. The participants flew a standardized flight program on the company premises. This enables the skills of the pilots to be assessed in compliance with the same evaluation criteria and confirms that they have safe handling skills in standard and emergency procedures.