Airlines for America (A4A), in collaboration with SAE International, presented the prestigious 20th Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Innovation Award at the A4A NDT Forum in Nashville, honoring a joint team from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. The award was given in recognition of the team’s development of a cutting-edge, camera-based NDT tracking app designed to enhance the efficiency and precision of ultrasonic (UT) inspections.
The innovative NDT Tracker app, which integrates augmented reality, eliminates the traditional practice of manually drawing UT grids. These grids are a critical component of inspections used by airlines and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) stations to map corrosion and assess the remaining thickness of blended areas. Traditionally, such inspections required two inspectors working together to mark grids by hand, a labor-intensive and time-consuming process.
By automating the UT grid process, the Tracker app has increased the speed of grid inspections by 20 to 30 percent, significantly reducing the time needed for large-scale inspections. This innovation has not only improved turnaround times but has also enhanced overall maintenance throughput at the Air Force bases where it is currently in use.
The NDT Tracker is actively being utilized at Tinker and Robins Air Force Bases, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.
The team recognized for the 2024 NDT Innovation Award includes:
- Paul Davidson, NDI Engineering Level III, Robins Air Force Base
- Richard Duin, NDI Engineering Level III, Tinker Air Force Base
- Doug Haanpaa, Senior Software Engineer, Cybernet Systems Corporation
- Kevin Tang, Principal Investigator, Cybernet Systems Corporation
- Nick Wandro, OC-ALC NDI Program Manager, 76th AMXG/MXDEN, Tinker Air Force Base
Robert Ireland, A4A’s Vice President for Safety, Maintenance, and Engineering, applauded the team for their achievement, stating, "This year’s award recipients have revolutionized the UT gridding process. The NDT Tracker not only reduces inspection times but also enhances the accuracy of inspections. By miniaturizing 3D localization technology originally developed by NASA, this tool offers a promising future for UT gridding in both the military and commercial sectors."
The award presentation took place during the 65th annual A4A NDT Forum, a four-day conference where industry leaders gather to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and breakthroughs in NDT methodologies. The event highlights cutting-edge technologies designed to detect structural defects in aircraft, ensuring safety and reliability long before visible signs of damage emerge.
