NON-DESTRUCTIVE IMAGING

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>

NON-DESTRUCTIVE IMAGING
At a tour of Air Force bases earlier this week, I learned that the 
principal reason that aircraft are depainted and repainted during 
depot-level maintenance is to inspect for corrosion and other damage. 
While the Air Force is making great strides in finding less toxic ways 
to remove paint and using less hazardous paints, much of this activity 
may actually be unnecessary.
On aircraft parts, the Air Force uses non-destructive imaging, such as 
X-ray scanning, to detect flaws in metal, and at McClellan Air Force 
Base in California it has a non-destructive imaging facility capable of 
scanning fighter aircraft as large as the F-111.
I would be interested in hearing from people who might know the answers 
to the following questions:
1) Can non-destructive imaging be used to eliminate or at least reduce 
the need for routine depainting of aircraft?
2) Can the technology be scaled up to handle larger aircraft?
3) Does the commercial airline industry have a similar need?
If the answers to all three questions is yes, then it might make sense 
for the Air Force and the private sector to team up to build a dual use 
imaging facility. A logical place would be McClellan, which already has 
the technology, if the administration moves ahead with its scheme for 
privatization in place.
Lenny Siegel