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11 Dec 2015

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career, certification, documents, example, Guide, hours, job, Military, ndt, prepare, qualification, training

NDT Certification After Your Military Career, A Guide

It is important that you have a guide to NDT Certification After Your Military Career. The Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force each have a career field dedicated to inspecting a variety of components. These inspections are performed in such a way as to not damage or alter the components. Regardless of whether we call this process Nondestructive Inspection (NDI), Nondestructive Testing (NDT), or Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE), the men and women who perform it are all in the same predicament when they leave the Service; they are no longer certified.

Why?

Well, to answer that, we must first be clear about what it means to be certified. A certification is an employer’s way of saying they have vetted your training, experience, and ability to pass some exams, and is willing to assume the risks that are inherent in your work. If you skip steps during an inspection and miss something, you can be held accountable, and so can your employer. Additionally, the certification process is owned by each employer. Just because your last employer certified you doesn’t mean your current employer requires the same level of knowledge and experience. Aside from organizations like The American Society For Nondestructive Testing (www.asnt.org), which offers impartial third-party certifications, every certification you will ever earn will be through an employer. If you are currently serving in the military, your Service is your employer. As a matter for debate, it may be that the military does not provide a guide for NDI / NDT Certification After Your Military Career, due to retention. NDT is lucrative as a civilian and there is no incentive for the DOD to shine a light on the green grass.

You can earn an ASNT Level II or Level III certification (and a few others) as soon you as you are qualified and are able to pass the exams. Your military experience will provide you with a qualifications boost that most non-military technician do not have toward certification. These certifications are good for 5 years. The qualifications follow those found in SNT-TC-1A, which is an ASNT recommended practice titled, Personnel Qualification and Certification in Nondestructive Testing.

Let’s say you earn an ASNT certification in one or more methods and, down the road, get hired at an NDT company. Will you still need to earn a certification through this new company? It depends on their written practice.

What’s a written practice?

It is a procedure (signed document) that provides a roadmap for the qualification and certification of its employees. Every company that performs NDT has one. If your new company’s written practice is set up in accordance with SNT-TC-1A, it might allow some exams to be waived for people with current ASNT certifications. All of the options are listed in chapter 8 of SNT-TC-1A, but it is still up to the employer.

What if the company you want to work for certifies its employees under the NAS 410 standard? This is where things get different. National Aerospace Standard (NAS) 410 is not owned by ASNT. It is owned by Aerospace Industries Association (www.aia-aerospace.org), or simply, AIA. Revision 4 was published in late 2014, and came with some changes in the minimum experience levels required for qualification and certification. As you can imagine, NAS 410 is more stringent when it comes to what the employers can and can’t do in their written practices. NAS 410 is a standard practice. This means it must be followed exactly. SNT-TC-1A is a recommended practice. This means that it has recommendations that should be followed, but if the employer’s type of work requires deviations, they may be allowed as long as the written practice explains the reasons for them in an annex.

Why don’t all NDT companies just certify their employees to the less-restrictive document?

SNT-TC-1A does not apply to a single NDT sector. It can be used for oil and gas, wind farms, power plants, paper mills, and manufacturing, to name a few. All of these sectors have different national standards to follow and different applications, so a blanket document is not feasible.

NAS 410 covers aerospace (to include the manufacturing, service, and overhaul industries involved in aerospace), so it can be very specific. The Federal Aviation Administration also (www.faa.gov) has a lot to say regarding the quality of aircraft components and support equipment.

Think about it this way, if a wind turbine has a gear break in the middle of a wind farm, there will be damage, and possibly some injuries. If a plane has a wing break off during flight, a lot more bad things will happen. This Guide to NDT Certification After Your Military Career may help with your qualification and certification choices.

Here are two charts that show the differences between NAS 410 and SNT-TC-1A. There are other programs available, such as CP-189, ACCP, and IRRSP, but we will leave those for another time.

SNT-TC-1A Table 6.3.1 A (2011)
Method	NDT Level	Training Hours	Experience
Method	NDT Level	Training Hours	Minimum Hours in Method	Total Hours in NDT
PT	I	4	70	130
PT	II	8	140	270
MT	I	12	70	130
MT	II	8	210	400
ET	I	40	210	400
ET	II	40	630	1200
UT	I	40	210	400
UT	II	40	630	1200
RT	I	40	210	400
RT	II	40	630	1200

NAS 410 Table I and Table II (2014)
Method	NDT Level	Training Hours	Experience
Method	NDT Level	Training Hours	Minimum Hours in Method
PT	1	16	130
PT	2	16	270
MT	1	16	130
MT	2	16	400
ET	1	40	200
ET	2	40	600
UT	1	40	200
UT	2	40	600
RT (Film or Non-film)	1	40	200
RT (Film or Non-film)	2	40	600
RT (Film and Non-film)	1	60	220
RT (Film and Non-film)	2	60	780

Table: NDT Certification After Your Military Career

These tables compare the five basic NDT methods. NAS 410 Revision 4 split radiography into 2 separate techniques (film and non-film). SNT-TC-1A lists 15 methods, and some of those are further broken down. For example, ET is broken down into AC Field Measurement, Eddy Current, and Remote Field Testing.

SNT-TC-1A appears to allow fewer experience hours for some methods, but only if you are performing more than one method. Also, for some methods, NAS 410 requires more formal training hours but less actual experience hours.

Isn’t NAS 410 certification supposed to be more difficult to earn?

NAS 410 Revision 3 required a total of 1600 experience hours in ET, UT, and RT to qualify for Level 2. That revision also allowed what was referred to as the “50% rule”. This allowed NDT technicians to claim time for multiple methods worked during a shift instead of splitting the accounting into the actual hours worked in each method during that shift. Revision 4 dropped that rule and cut the minimum experience hours in these methods in half. So, under Revision 3, you could work an 8-hour shift performing PT and MT and claim 8 hours for both as long as you performed one or the other throughout the shift. Under Revision 4, this same shift would result in something more like 4 hours for PT and 4 hours for MT.

Another thing to note is that the hours listed in these tables are cumulative. For example, SNT-TC-1A requires 4 hours of formal training for Level I and 8 hours of formal training for Level II. You can’t just take an 8-hour course and qualify for Level II. You need a total of 12 formal training hours for Level II. Also, in that same method, you need 130 experience hours to qualify for Level I and 270 experience hours to qualify for Level II. If you choose to skip Level I and certify straight to Level II, you will need 400 experience hours as a NDT trainee.

See also: NAS 410 REVISION 4 CHANGES – For an enhanced commentary on NAS 410 Revision 4 changes and implications.
See also: NAS 410 REVISION 4 NOTES – For a deep drill-down into the specific changes that were made.

Now that we know all of this, what do you need to do?

All paths to NDT certification after your military career begin with qualification. You will need to prove you meet the minimum formal training hours (the tech school syllabus and certificate should suffice) and minimum experience hours. Proving your experience hours can be difficult if you haven’t kept a log throughout your career. You will need to be able to pass any applicable vision exams, and, if you are seeking Level III (or Level 3 for NAS 410) certification, you may need to provide your college degree if you are using it as a substitute for experience hours.

Your NDT career is in your hands. Don’t wait until you separate or retire to compile your qualification documents.

DOCUMENTS YOU MAY NEED FOR NDT Certification After Your Military Career

Resume – A resume is important. It is your first impression on paper. Spend some time crafting this. Avoid Bullet statements.
(Example Resume)
Education – You will need to have official transcripts and signed training certificate(s) with dates.
(Example Transcript) | (Example Certificate)
Calculate Hours (USAF Specific) – You will need to show the amount of hours you spent working each individual NDT method.
(Example USAF Excel Spreadsheet Hours Calc)
Experience Affidavit – The format will differ from employer to employer. Must be signed by previous supervisor/trainer.
(Example Affidavit)
References – References always help. They show you mean business and that others are willing to back you up.
(Example References)
Valid State Drivers License – Most companies will prefer an employee be capable of driving. They may even ask you for a photocopy.
(Example DL ‘Page 61’)
Up-to-date Passport – NDT companies may find themselves needing a technician overseas. A passport is handy for such occasions.
(Example Passport ‘Page 55’)
Service Record – Your DD form 214 or proof of service letter, combined with training documents, can help verify qualification.
(Example DD214)

Your resume may contain your goals, but consider that some NDT technicians craft entire careers performing a single NDT method. Lastly, Visual Testing (VT) is a big market out here. Your branch of service may not have VT as an actual method. If you used boroscopes, microscopes or prisms, any time in your career, attempt to obtain signed documentation of your training on the devices and the hours spent performing these tasks. It will save you some time if you wish to qualify for VT.

We hope this guide to NDT certification after your military career guide has been benficial.

We hope your next step will be to add yourself to our in-house resume filer. We may not be hiring today, but filing a resume with us may expedite any future positions with Midgard Scientific.

To learn more about NDT, call us at 1-844-643-4273 (1-844-MIDGARD) or visit our website at www.midgardscientific.com.

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Rope Access

13 Nov 2015

Nondestructive Testing

ASNT, certification, IRATA, ndt, nondestructive testing, rope access, SPRAT

Have you ever heard of rope access? I bet you’ve seen it several times in your life. Did you know that you need to be certified before you can perform rope access work?

The movie Mission Impossible gives a good illustration of rope access. In the movie, there is a scene where Tom Cruise’s character must enter a room to access a secure computer. There are so many alarm triggers that he has to enter and exit the room from the ceiling. He, literally, used a rope to access his “work site.”

Getting back to the real world now, what if you are an NDT inspector and hear about a job that pays a little more than normal, but requires rope access certification before you can get hired?

Two of the organizations that provide qualification and certification guidance for this are SPRAT and IRATA. The North American society is called the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT), and the International association is called the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA International). In this article, we will limit our discussion to SPRAT, which is a non-profit organization.

Why do these organizations exist? After all, NDT didn’t just randomly come into existence. NDT grew out of a need to improve safety and increase efficiencies. The American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) evolved to support the ever-changing NDT requirements. ASNT is also a non-profit organization. Their website can be found here: https://www.asnt.org/.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge in West Virginia collapsed, killing 46 people. This led to the Federal Highway Act of 1968, which caused the Secretary of Transportation to create the National Bridge Inspection Standard. A current list of these standards can be found here: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbis.cfm.

You may have a dare-devil friend who fearlessly climbs to heights that would make you dizzy. Most of us, however, would prefer to use a safety device to ensure we go home in one piece.

This is where rope access comes in. SPRAT, since the mid-1990’s, has developed a framework to make sure employers who require folks to work in dangerous locations do so safely and only do so after completing some training and examinations. Typical training for Levels I and II can be completed in a 5-day course, with the exams on the last day.

Rope access certifications are in addition to your NDT certifications. They can be used together, but each certification is geared toward a specific skill set. You could be an NDT Level III with 20 years of experience, and you will still start at Level I with rope access because NDT doesn’t teach you the intricacies of using a rope to get to where you need to inspect.

Experience can only be gained when you are performing work while on a rope, so certifications are sequential.

Certification to Level I does not require any experience. You will complete the training and must pass both a written exam and a skills evaluation. This certification remains valid for 3 years. You must be certified before any experience hours are counted.

Certification to Level II requires 500 hours and 6 months of experience as a Level I. Once again, you will be required to pass a written exam and a skills evaluation. This certification remains valid for 3 years.

Certification to Level III requires 500 hours and 6 months of experience as a Level II. This means you will need a total of 1000 hours in order to qualify to Level III. As with the previous levels, there is a written exam and a skills evaluation. An additional requirement for Level III certification is a current CPR AED and First Aid Certification. This certification remains valid for 3 years.

An obvious component of the skills evaluations is your ability to tie a variety of knots. Some of these are bowlines, Flemish Bends, and barrel knots. Remember, rope access, as it pertains to NDT, is about safely getting your body to a hard-to-reach location so you can perform an inspection.

Once you master the knots and the basics of moving around on a rope, you will be ready to work as a Level I. Level II requirements go a little further. You will need to know how to place anchors, how to help another climber, how to slide, and how to rescue haul. As a Level III, you will have already mastered all of the previous requirements, so your focus will move to the bigger picture. You will be responsible for ensuring the safety of all rope access workers at a job site.

So, what types of job sites require rope access certifications? The short answer is, any location that can’t be accessed with other technology. Offshore rigs use rope access extensively. Also, ropes are much less expensive than cranes and cherry pickers, so they can be tailored to specific on-shore locations. Let’s say you need to inspect a bridge. There will be locations on the sides of the bridge that you need to inspect. There might also be locations on the bottom side of the bridge that need to be inspected. Different techniques are required to access each of these areas.

Rope access is not used solely for NDT. Other applications include, concrete repair, photography, cinematography, geological surveys, and pressure washing, to name a few.

To learn more about rope access, you can visit SPRAT at http://sprat.org/. You can find free downloadable standards and certification requirements at http://sprat.org/publications/standards/

To learn more about NDT, call us at 1-844-643-4273 (1-844-MIDGARD) or visit our website at www.midgardscientific.com.

NAS 410 Revision 4 Changes

31 Aug 2015

Standards

nas410, National Aerospace Standard, ndt, nondestructive testing, revision, standard

Success in the field of Nondestructive Testing requires knowledge of a wide variety of documents. There are Federal and State regulations, codes, standards, recommended practices, and many other documents that impact the various types of tests and inspections we perform. Since NDT is conducted throughout the world, it’s no surprise that there is some overlap among the various regional standards. European Standard (EN) 473, Qualification and Certification of NDT Personnel – General Principles, has been replaced by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9712, Non-Destructive Testing – Qualification and Certification of Personnel. This is a result, in part, of an effort to harmonize EN Standards with ISO Standards. International standards are referenced by more specific standards, such as the one used by the aerospace industry, NAS-410.

National Aerospace Standard (NAS) 410 Revision 3 (2008) referenced both EN 473 and ISO 9712. NAS-410 Revision 4, which was published in December 2014, only references ISO 9712.

Oil and Gas Industry Safety Gut-Check

04 Aug 2015

Oil and Gas, Safety

energy, gas, oil, oil price, quality, recession, reliability, safety, training

Safety and quality programs within the oil and gas industry are often mandated by government code, law or regulation. Will the low price of oil cause an increase of safety-related incidence? Will we see a rise in catastrophic structural failures due to decreased profits? Lower fuel prices are great for shipping and transport industry, but the oil industry continues to endure crude at rock bottom prices. Major oil companies continue to cut back on production and spending. US News reports that Chevron will be laying off another 1,500 workers over the next quarter. While the economy is showing improvement, the spending cuts from oil producers are tempering the economy and keeping it sluggish.

Decreased oil revenues have a steady positive effect on the economy, but it has a negative effect on stocks due to the large size of the companies. Typically a 10 percent drop in oil prices will cause a one percent drop in the Standards and Poors. Where we had nearly four years of $90+ a barrel, the price of oil began decreasing dramatically a year ago. Falling to $44 by March, it has remained in the doldrums for nearly a year.

Quality Assurance for Quality Standards

01 Aug 2015

Standards

aerospace, AS9100, assurance, ISO 9001, ndt, nondestructive testing, quality, standard

When it comes to Quality Systems and Standards, we have all become reactive. A new Standard is published, and an Army of employees automatically cringe at the prospect that one or more processes will need to be overhauled for compliance with the new quality paradigm.

Implementation of any standard in a company is difficult. Most businesses are stressed in implementing procedures on how each individual’s ideas are made. In order to avoid frustrations of the employee in the company, the company has to provide a proper way of communication towards the employee. It is recommended that employees will get the right information about the plans and changes of the company. The aerospace industry is growing very fast and chances are high companies will attract more new clients and customers. And revising the implementation to AS9100 will allow the possibility to enhance the system into a better world.

ISO 9001 Quality Standard

College Degree vs NDT Career

29 Jul 2015

Nondestructive Testing

career, college, cost, degree, job, ndt, nondestructive testing, tuition

It’s tough to read the news these days without coming across an article discussing how the cost of going to college continues to rise. We all know that Ivy League schools and out-of-state tuition are expensive. However, according to The College Board, Annual Survey of Colleges, even in-state tuition at public institutions continues to rise. In fact, over the last five years, these tuition rates have increased between 3% and 54%, and all 50 states saw increases.

When young adults graduate from high school, most have to choose between finding a job, and getting additional education. Some jobs, like military service, provide paid training followed by a service commitment. Many employment options for high school graduates will include entry-level manual labor. If someone earns a college degree, there is no guarantee that they will find a job that is both satisfying and high-paying. Additionally, after graduation, the bank will require monthly payments until the student loans have been paid off. To put this in perspective, a person who graduates from college with $20,000 to $40,000 in student loan debt will have a monthly payment similar to someone who bought a new car. The difference is that the student loan payment is in addition to this person’s car payment.

A college degree vs an NDT career is in no way an equal match. The field of Nondestructive Testing (NDT) continues to see growth year after year. Why? NDT is useful in a wide variety of applications. NDT professionals use various methods to inspect things without damaging them. Most people have seen a radiograph. The film can show a tiny bone fracture. Likewise, NDT inspectors can see cracks in various structures such as aircraft, ships, pressure vessels, bridges, sculptures, etc. Virtually anything can be inspected with one of the 15 inspection methods accepted by the recommended practice SNT-TC-1A, and the technology improves every year. Tuition prices at universities continue to rise and with state funding decreasing, universities are relying on tuition more and more. NDT wins!

Why might this matter to you? If you are looking for a different career or have recently graduated and have never heard of NDT, there are lots of opportunities out there. Once qualified and certified, you could work in an oil and gas field in Texas or on a pipeline in northern Alaska. You could inspect windfarms in the Midwest or fly to another country to work for 6 months and then fly home with enough money for the rest of the year. It’s up to you. There aren’t many sure things in the world these days, but continued growth in the NDT field and the increased need for qualified inspectors come pretty close to a sure thing. Most employers will pay you while you complete the formal training requirements and then place you under the supervision of an NDT Level II until you have enough experience hours. As you learn more, you can earn more.

The question comes down to Nondestructive Testing as a career or a college degree with no promise of an income. For more information on annual income, positions, wages etc, we recommend reviewing the PQNDT Salary Survey 2014.

If you are interested in formal Midgard Academy NDT Training we recommend filling out our secure information form.

NDT and the Automotive Industry

Automotive, Nondestructive Testing

01 Jul 2015

automotive, motor vehicle, ndt, nondestructive testing

Non-destructive Testing (NDT) and the Automotive Industry go hand in hand. The automotive industry spans a wide range of corporations that involves the marketing, development, and manufacturing of motor vehicles. Motor vehicles serve many functional roles these days. They also serve to drive our desire for adventures, long journeys, road trips and exploration. Motor vehicles have made our lives easier. Travelling, going to work, and driving children to school over long distances is now commonplace.

We take for granted, the safety a modern motor vehicle provides and we place little thought into the advanced testing each one has undergone prior to, during and after production. Lesser still are any thoughts to the little-known process called non-destructive testing or NDT.

During the production and testing of a vehicle, engineers can calculate approximations of wear and breakage of vehicle components. Ultimately these parts must be assembled and tested. Many tests occur on individual components prior to the assembly of a vehicle, and many tests occur after the assembly is complete. It is when something breaks down, or becomes defective that a measure of that defect must be taken. A non-destructive technician will then perform an inspection primarily for data collection. This data then aids an engineer to redesign the component to ensure greater longevity or safety. The use of NDT results is helpful to the outcome.

Fine Art and Nondestructive Testing

21 Jun 2015

Company, Fine Art, Nondestructive Testing, Radiographic, Ultrasonic

fine art, natural history, ndt, nondestructive testing

Fine Art and Nondestructive Testing (NDT) may seem unlikely companions. The current paradigm of NDT focuses primarily on industrial needs. This is most likely due to the scientific nature of NDT as well as the need for NDT arising from industries associated with manufacturing and the preservation of engineered items.

The pool of industries utilizing nondestructive methods is growing and with this growth comes the need for NDT companies to either proact or react to new potentials. In the pursuit of being proactive Midgard Scientific, LLC has opened a new division to focus on the quality preservation of priceless cultural mediums.

The conservation of fine art requires mechanical data collection by nondestructive means. Destructive testing of a priceless symbol of the human experience cannot be employed. Long-term preservation demands advanced knowledge of an item’s mechanical or material properties.

The current Art Conservation industry will more likely offer up someone with a Degree in the Arts. This is unlikely to change over time as Art as a reflection of the inner world, remains at the core of the industry. That being said, art conservation is increasingly relying on science.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), Photogrammetry, and Algorithmic Rendering are a few new methods Midgard Conservations will provide. These methods are primarily used for aging Classical or Neo-Classical Paintings. Standard Ultrasonic Thickness testing and Radiography is typically used on Statue Preservation. Ultimately the central direction of conservation work remains as it has been for decades, however with the introduction of Nondestructive Testing added to the Conservators tool belt, the ability for long-term preservation is enhanced.

A good example of Nondestructive Testing within the Fine Art world is the Gilded Diana. Also known as “Diana of the Tower”, the copper statue, created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, required extensive conservation efforts. For over thirty years, it sat atop the Madison Square Garden building. Diana’s golden surface and the sculpture went through degradation due to the effects and exposure to the weather atop the building. In 1925, just prior to the demolition of the building, the statue was removed from atop the building. The time spent atop the tower had diminished the look of the golden finish.

The Philidelphia Museum of Art adopted the statue and began its preservation in 2013. The transformation of the statue was astounding. In 2014, the restoration was completed and included the use of Nondestructive Testing methods.

For more on the Gilded Diana please visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

“Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the state of the art in digital capture and documentation of the world’s cultural, historic, and artistic treasures.” CHI has developed some remarkable technology toward the preservation of history. Midgard Scientific’s Conservation services will be utilizing a few of these technologies.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is an imaging technique used in natural history and cultural heritage preservation. It enables the study of minute surface details. Multiple photos are taken, while light from differing angles is projected onto an object. The information from the light is synthesized so that the viewer can enhance the representation of the object’s surface.

Algorithmic Rendering (AR) essentially vectors or plots, mathematically, a reliable digital illustration of a non-digital work, such as a painting or sculpture. AR extracts relevant visual information from photographic datasets. AR incorporates these results and yields answers to critical questions using selective emphasis and abstraction.

Aside from new technologies, general Conservation methods are important. As Nondestructive Testing is currently used to preserve the value of modern industrial machines and infrastructure, so too is the need to preserve our cultural and natural history. No quantification of price can provide the true cost of ensuring the story of humanity is preserved for future generations.

Eddy Current Array (ECA) Solution

12 Jun 2015

Aerospace, Construction, CWI Weld Inspection, Eddy Current, Nondestructive Testing, Oil and Gas, Power Generation

cwi, eddy current array, ndt, weld inspection

In the grand quest for the perfect Nondestructive Testing and Eddy Current Array solution, Eddyfi has developed a unique approach. Recently Eddyfi launched Reddy™, a turnkey eddy current array (ECA) unit. This device is acclaimed as the only portable offering in its class and designed for in-service needs of the power generation, aerospace, and oil and gas industries.

The Reddy™ eddy current array (ECA) unit comes with a large, premium-quality display and easy to use software that is top of the line. The portable system is the state-of-the-art solution to surface ECA testing. Quite simply the Reddy™ is faster and more efficient than traditional means of determining cracks and corrosion on welds, tanks, pipes, and vessels.

Combining Eddyfi’s ECA or tangential ECA (TECA™) probes, their powerful Magnifi® and Magnifi GO software, and expert support, they may have generated the finest packages for surface eddy current array inspections.