John Thompson retires from BINDT
12/09/2012
After a career spanning 25 years with The British Institute of NDT (BINDT) as PCN Scheme Manager,Head of Certification Services, Director, International Affairs and, latterly, Principal Technical Specialist (Certification), John Thompson has retired from the Institute.
During his employment with The British Institute of NDT, John
Thompson accomplished many achievements, most notably the development, implementation and management of the Institute’s international scheme for certification of NDT personnel (PCN), and ensuring its subsequent compliance with European (EN ISO/IEC 17024; EN 473) and international (ISO 9712) standards, including gaining accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).He also developed and implemented a system for accreditation of training and developed the necessary systems and infrastructure to enable The British Institute of NDT to gain UKAS accreditation as a body competent to assess and certify quality management systems to ISO 9000 criteria.
John participated in standards development at British, European and International levels, including the development of ISO 9712 and EN 473 standards for qualification and certification of NDT personnel, ISO/IEC 17024 and IAF Guide 24.
John Thompson qualified in mechanical and production engineering whilst serving as a member of the Royal Air Force (RAF), carrying out first and second line maintenance and overhaul of military aircraft in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Near and Middle East during the period 1965 to 1987.For the latter 10 years of his RAF career, he was assigned to non-destructive testing (NDT) duties, applying all main NDT methods (ET, MT, PT, RT, IRT, UT and VT) to aircraft, weapons, vehicles, lifting gear, civil engineering structures and aerospace materials, including carbon fibre composites.
For the last three years of his military service, John was assigned to the RAF’s Central Servicing Development Establishment (CSDE), where he was responsible for the development of NDT techniques for inspection of the Harrier GR5 (USMC AV8B equivalent) composite structure.
John left the RAF in 1987 to join BINDT.
In addition to providing secretariat support for the European Federation for NDT (EFNDT) Working Group on Qualification and Certification, the UK National Aerospace NDT Board and the European Forum for National Aerospace Boards, John also chaired and/or was involved in various national and international committees and groups. He chaired the International Committee for NDT (ICNDT) Working Group 1 on qualification, certification and accreditation from 2008 to 2012 and is currently secretary of the ICNDT Certification Executive Committee (ICEC), which was formally established at the 2012 World NDT Conference in Durban, South Africa. As such, he will be actively involved in administering the new ICNDT Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and Personnel Certification Body Approval (PCBA) schemes.
In his retirement John will focus on developing the business of his company, Multiple Support Systems; however, at his retirement function at BINDT HQ in May John assured all present that he would remain an active member and supporter of The British Institute of NDT.
