Inspection Technologies

Regular maintenance of airframe is an important aspect of assuring flight safety of aircraft structures. One technology area, which plays an important role in proper maintenance and assuring the flight safety of aircraft, is the inspection at regular intervals. Reliable visual and nondestructive inspection NDI methods are needed to assure the airworthiness of these aircraft and at the same time keeping maintenance costs to a minimum. Commercial aircraft maintenance programs are shown in Figure 1. For military aircraft the inspection requirements are generally defined by Integrated Logistic Support ILS organization for non-critical components. For critical components, the inspections are defined by damage tolerance analysis.