 Aeronautics scientist Charlie Scanlon is heading up an effort at NASA's Langley Research Center to provide flight crews with comprehensive weather information to use in re-routing around storms. A touch-sensitive screen provides access to a variety of displays. This one shows storms along the flight path and a history of their recent movements. The system is called cockpit weather information needs or sea wind and it could save the airline six million dollars a year. And how do pilots like United Airlines get the feel about having NASA's weather system in the cockpit? Can I have it yesterday? I would love it. Another Langley research team is evaluating this thermal bond inspection system designed to find corrosion or other problems in critical aircraft joints. They're also testing a digital x-ray device that produces even more detailed images of existing corrosion. The goal is to minimize the number of times a plane must be torn apart looking for these types of flaws and thus reduce the airline's staggering maintenance costs. U.S. air inspection foreman Rusty Jones. It's a definite boost to us. Any reduction that we can come up with is very, very important. We have to produce a safe, reliable, dependable airplane that people can afford to fly. It's forced to change course to avoid storms. Choosing the most efficient path around bad weather is critical because fuel and overall operating costs are so high. These rely primarily on in-pocket weather radar to determine which parameter for you. But this radar can't see very far out there. And it doesn't provide any information about storm cells beyond the one in front of it. That's why aeronautic scientist Charlie Scanlon has been spending so much time in this simulator at NASA's Langley Research Center. He's heading up an effort to provide flight crews with better information to use in making reroute decisions. A touch sensitive screen provides access to a variety of maps. This one shows air storms along the flight path and a history of their recent movements. Lightning strike data and terminal forecast can also be called up on this same screen all at the touch of a finger. We have no new weather products. It's just a matter of taking what you have out there today, putting it into a data stream and data linking it to the airplane. The system is called cockpit weather information needs, or CWIN. To test it, Scanlon brought in 14 commercial airline pilots, including United Steakgiver. All flew the same scenarios with and without the CWIN displays. And when they had the graphical weather system, they were able to make better reroute decisions than when they did not have it. In fact, they were able to fly on an average of five percent shorter distance when they had this extra tool. Five percent might not sound like much, but with each of the major carriers flying close to 350 planes a day, every decision could save as much as $6 million a year per airline. Efficiently avoiding storms also has an added advantage for passengers. If you can make reroute decisions and stay away from the cells three times as far away, it gives you smoother, safer ride. And how do pilots feel about having NASA's weather system in the cockpit? Can I have it yesterday? I would love it. It's one thing that I could get very enthused over and having seen it in here. I'd like to be using it tomorrow. NASA is also conducting other safety-related research aimed at improving aircraft inspections. Keeping their planes fit to fly is an important part of any airlines' mission. In addition to daily maintenance checks at the gate, every aircraft is regularly brought in to facilities like U.S. airs in Pittsburgh for more thorough checkouts and repairs. A very labor-intensive, costly process. Inspection foreman Rusty Jones. It's incredible the amount of money that's spent. We did an aging aircraft program here a few years ago looking for some significant problems. We were spending an average of a million dollars in airplane just for that one check. Though expensive, it still won't cost effective in today's economy to keep a plane flying than it is to replace it. Ten years ago you bought an airplane and you threw it away after ten years. We can no longer afford to do that. A key concern in extending an aircraft's lifespan is its susceptibility to corrosion or failures in critical joints. Traditionally determining the extent of these flaws has been tearing planes apart. Again, costly and time-consuming. A few alternative non-destructive evaluation techniques have been developed. This ultrasonic device is widely used, but it's a time-consuming point-by-point system that ultimately relies upon operator interpretation. Looking for better ways to detect flaws, another NASA Langley research team is experimenting with this thermal bond inspection system. Its heart is an infrared camera. Small lamps are used to warm an area of the plane's surface. Three or four degrees is all it takes for the camera to produce an image. Lighter areas indicate corrosion or joint problems. Group leader Elliott Gramer. We can measure about a three-foot by three-foot square area at a time and by doing that large of an area then you can rapidly do an entire aircraft. In addition to that it's an imaging technology. So you have a picture when you're done and that picture can be stored and used later on subsequent inspections to see if there's been any changes in the character of that airplane. The researchers are also evaluating this digital x-ray system as a means of more accurately determining just how much corrosion exists in a given area. It generates very detailed images that complement those produced with the thermal bond technology. If you had a problem area that you found with the thermal system you can go in with the x-ray and use that to define how bad that area is. Research like this has the support of the airlines. It's a definite boost to us any reduction that we can come up with is very very important. We have to produce a safe reliable dependable airplane that people can afford to fly. In cockpit weather displays and non-destructive evaluation techniques. NASA research helping this country's airlines compete in today's global economy.