Gas turbine engine drone inspection system

A method for inspection of a gas turbine engine, the method comprising:

• operating at least one drone to fly into an interior of a gas turbine engine to a first position with respect to a component in the gas turbine engine, the at least one drone is equipped with an imaging device and a light source, the imaging device including a borescope that is moveable between a stowed, compact position and a deployed, extended position;
• operating the imaging device and the light source to take an image a target surface of the component from the first position;
• identifying whether the image includes an obstruction that blocks a portion of the target surface from view of the imaging device;
• in response to identifying the obstruction, operating the at least one drone to fly to a second position from which there is a line-of-sight to the target surface without the obstruction, and
• operating the operating the at least one drone to deploy the borescope from the stowed position to the deployed position to, along with the light source, obtain an unobstructed image of the target surface from the second position.