Inspection engineers benefit from inside information
05/02/2013
Ashtead Technology has experienced a surge in demand for hired video borescopes from the aircraft sector and Branch Manager Alan Hasson believes this is happening for three reasons: “There is a growing demand for borescopes because they enable inspection without the cost and delay of dismantling
engines. Secondly, instrumentation technology has advanced considerably recently and we are now able to supply video borescopes that are very light and easy to use, but which provide extremely high-quality images. Thirdly, we stock a wide range of the latest inspection equipment from leading manufacturers such as Olympus IMS and GE, so that clients can rent the most appropriate equipment for each job.”One of the latest additions to Ashtead Technology’s fleet of NDT inspection instruments is the Olympus IPLEX UltraLite. Weighing just 700 g, it incorporates a combined control and display unit that fits in the palm of one hand and frees the other hand to guide the probe insertion tube. Observed images can be stored on a memory card as high-quality JPEG images and MPEG-4 movies.
The organisations that are buying or renting borescopes (also known as videoprobes or videoscopes) include airlines, operators, maintenance organisations and specialist NDT companies, and their work covers scheduled or non-scheduled inspections, in addition to pre-purchase and lease return inspections.
Borescope inspections are undertaken wherever internal components are difficult to access and on both installed and uninstalled engines. The main benefit of the ease and speed of this work is that it enables swift remedial action to be taken when any problems are identified. This means that preventative maintenance programmes are more efficient and aircraft downtime is minimised.
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