Training strategies for visual inspection

Airworthiness of the civil fleet is dependent upon the ability of inspectors to identify conditions for repair. As this is primarily a visual activity, the issue of training for visual inspection is critical. The inspection training literature has little detailed advice in this area, so in response to this need, a series of simulator experiments was undertaken for the development of improved training programs. This article briefly reviews each experiment and summarizes the results. Key conclusions drawn from each experiment are then used to demonstrate how they can be applied to enhance training for inspection tasks.