Sandia Host Training to Detect Aircraft Flaws, Cracks and Failures

Dozens of aircraft inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard are in Albuquerque this week for a unique weeklong training course hosted by Sandia National Laboratories. Inspectors from the U.S. Air Force and commercial aircraft operators are attending the training as well.

The workshop is giving specialists responsible for the safety of government and corporate aircraft valuable experience using high-tech sensors and scanners to help them 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 extending the service lives of aging aircraft by using advanced inspection and repair technologies.