Transparent Airplanes?

James B. Spicer

Many advanced optical and infrared materials inspection techniques that have been employed to examine aircraft structures have a long history of laboratory development before adaptation for field use.

Demonstrations on model laboratory materials systems over the past two decades have led to field demonstrations on aircraft structures over the past five to 10 years. For the most part, these technologies aim to inspect large areas cost-effectively; besides their aircraft applications, they find use in testing structures such as composite pressure vessels and naval structures...