ASNT Conference sees record attendance

The American Society for Nondestructive Testing held its Fall Conference and celebration of its 75th Anniversary in Long Beach, California, from 24-27 October 2016. I have only been a member for 55 years, so I missed some of the early years!

Combine the attraction of Long Beach, Southern California, and the historic nature of the event and you will understand the large attendance – a record of more than 2,250. The exhibition had over 200 exhibitors. The United Kingdom was well represented by the following twelve companies: Baugh & Weedon, BINDT, Cygnus Instruments, ETher NDE, Guided Ultrasonics, Hi-Spec Systems, Ionix Advanced Technologies, Phoenix Inspection Systems, Plant Integrity, Technology Design, TSC Inspection Systems and Ultrasonic Sciences.

The keynote address was delivered by Leland Melvin, Engineer and NASA Astronaut. He shared his story of 24 years with NASA as a researcher, astronaut, scientist and engineer. He has also played professional football with the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. His fascinating story of persistence and passion is inspiring.

Amongst the many presentations, outstanding offerings were given by David Gilbert on the BINDT Apprenticeship Scheme, Michael Smith, TSC Inspection Systems, with a double performance on ‘ACFMT for difficult access situations’ and ‘Semi-automated axle inspection’ and David Alleyne, Guided Ultrasonics, on ‘The quantitative measurement of wall loss’.

I spotted many old friends from the other side of the pond, including Martin Peacock, Steve and Teresa Lavender, Jim and Carol Knowles, Mike and Trudy Smith and Mike and Kay Farley, which provided a bit of nostalgia.

The AGM of the North American Branch of BINDT was conducted on the Wednesday evening of the conference, as is now traditional. It was held in the Presidential Suite of David Bajula, incoming ASNT President, BINDT Member and Chartered Engineer.

The officers elected remain the same as for the previous year, ie myself (Ron Nisbet) as Chair, Brian Anderson as Vice Chair and Brian Shannon as Secretary/Treasurer.

The installation of officers was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Queen Mary and that stately old lady is looking very well for her age. She made her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936. She is a year younger than me! There was champagne, music, dancing and laughter, which was as it should be.

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