Structural sleuths bring cutting edge to Robins AFB
Posted: 2007-7-16
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE --
Nondestructive Inspection - almost a touchy-feely, black science until recently - is emerging today with new technologies and greater credibility.
And it couldn't come at a better time for Air Force flight crews who must apply relentless, wartime stresses to ancient flying machines.
In a nutshell, NDI is the examination of an aircraft location or component using methods that do not prevent its future use. At Robins Air Force Base, it applies to rainbow fittings on 40-year-old C-130 cargo aircraft. Vital, honeycomb-core components on aging F-15 fighters. Flight surfaces on the giant 20- to 40-year-old C-5. And a thousand other parts and fuselage locations that must be inspected, approved and, if necessary, repaired.
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Nondestructive Inspection - almost a touchy-feely, black science until recently - is emerging today with new technologies and greater credibility.
And it couldn't come at a better time for Air Force flight crews who must apply relentless, wartime stresses to ancient flying machines.
In a nutshell, NDI is the examination of an aircraft location or component using methods that do not prevent its future use. At Robins Air Force Base, it applies to rainbow fittings on 40-year-old C-130 cargo aircraft. Vital, honeycomb-core components on aging F-15 fighters. Flight surfaces on the giant 20- to 40-year-old C-5. And a thousand other parts and fuselage locations that must be inspected, approved and, if necessary, repaired.
click link for full story
