Sandia Conducts Aircraft Inspector Training

Dozens of corporate and government aircraft inspectors are in Albuquerque, NM, this week for a unique weeklong training course hosted by Sandia National Laboratories. The workshop is offering those responsible for the safety of government and corporate aircraft valuable experience in using high-tech sensors and scanners to find small or hidden cracks and other flaws in aircraft structures early in their formation, before the defects become a safety hazard. The training is being held at a unique facility near the Albuquerque International Sunport, the Airworthiness Assurance Non-Destructive Inspection Validation Center (AANC), which houses several retired aircraft with known defects in their structures. The AANC’s focus is to extend the service lives of aging aircraft using advanced inspection and repair technologies. Sandia operates the center for the Federal Aviation Administration. The center has developed and/or evaluated several hand-held systems that aid inspectors in finding defects too small or too hidden to be seen with the human eye. During their training, the inspectors will try to locate and characterize defects using nondestructive inspection (NDI) techniques that check airframe components for unseen defects, such as cracks and corrosion in materials, without disassembling the aircraft. Sandia’s research in NDI has resulted in the development and certification of a variety of aircraft inspection and repair technologies. The program supports the U.S. Coast Guard’s aging aircraft program. A similar program with Dassault Falcon Jet provides similar training to business jet inspectors.