Nondestructive inspection: human factors is still the key

The importance of nondestructive inspection (NDI) to safety in the schedule airline industry is discussed. The immediate human factors need in NDI is for better understanding of the specifics of the NDI inspector´s job. Once understanding has been gained on the tasks of and methodology employed by NDI inspectors, it is a relatively straight-forward task to determine how their jobs could be better performed. The author suggests that procedures, training, job environment, management and organizational factors, and skills maintenance are all needed to optimize NDI performance.<>