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NDI: the CSI of maintenance

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  CSI, a popular stateside television show, portrays police investigators taking samples from a crime scene to a laboratory - running sophisticated tests and solving crimes.

Well, CSI eat your heart out, because Joint Base Balad has its own CSI team - and they get to work on jet aircraft.

The 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron Non-Destructive Inspection Lab uses high-tech equipment to perform the same operations that a police lab does to ensure mission success.

"Everyone calls us 'crack finders,' however we do much so more," said Staff Sgt. Todd Tighe, 332 EMXS NDI NCO in charge. "We do check for cracks. However, our main mission is the Joint Oil Analysis Program and engine metal's detection on all F-16 Fighting Falcons and transient aircraft found here."

Like CSI, NDI Airmen use equipment and techniques to see things that are invisible to the naked eye, namely cracks in aircraft structures and components.

NDI use eddy current equipment, magnetic particle machines, ultrasonic detectors and portable X-Ray devices to peer into the aircraft and components without having to take them apart, said Airman 1st Class Courtney Finklin, 332 EMXS NDI technician. "We also use dye penetrant, which is a liquid we spray on a component. The dye seeps into the crack, so the defect can be seen."

When CSI receives a fluid sample from a crime scene, they are able to plug it into a machine that gives them a detailed analysis of its content. NDI performs the same kind of procedures, but on aircraft engine oil.

Flightline maintainers bring JOAP samples and magnetic plugs to NDI for analysis. The plug and oil sample contain pieces of metal that circulate in engine oil.

By using a scanning electron microscope for metal shavings and a burnt-oil spectrometer for oil samples, the NDI lab can then tell the maintainers exactly what engine component is wearing out, said Airman Finklin, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

"With these analyses, we have been able to save the Air Force approximately $130 million in engine changes, and maintenance crews countless hours of work," said Sergeant Tighe, a native of Edwardsberg, Mich., deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. "Additionally, if it wasn't for NDI all the samples would need to be shipped out to another lab, delaying the mission here."

Similar to CSI, NDI Airmen share a close bond with each other supported by an NCO, who has "been there and done that."

"We're a tight shop we do everything together," said Sergeant Tighe. "I have been deployed before and I remember the things that kept lab morale high and the things that brought morale down. Whatever we are doing must be working because our lab maintains a 13 percent average above Defense Department standards when it comes to our JOAP."

Despite the fact CSI and NDI have similar work practices, techniques and equipment, there's one key difference.

The main difference is CSI scenarios happen after a crime or accident has happened, and NDI is a preventative maintenance shop that keeps accidents from happening.