Agenda

With more than two decades of aviation safety and aircraft maintenance leadership, keynote speaker Jackie Black brings a rare combination of regulatory insight, operational perspectiv, and executive-level experience to the A4A Nondestructive Testing Forum. His career spans frontline aviation safety oversight, field office leadership, regional technical support, aircraft maintenance policy, international programs and senior roles within FAA Flight Standards Safety Standards. This breadth of experience positions him to connect the strategic importance of nondestructive testing with the practical realities of airline maintenance, safety assurance, workforce development and evolving inspection technology.

Aerospace NDT is at a critical inflection point as demand grows, technician capacity tightens, standards evolve and automation reshapes inspection and training. Moderated by Justin Madden, A4A Vice President, Safety and Operations, this cross-industry panel will discuss how aerospace NDT must evolve to address workforce constraints, changing standards, growing inspection demand and emerging automation—while preserving safety, compliance and technical excellence. Gain practical insight from standards, operator, training and technology leaders on how aerospace NDT can build workforce capacity, adapt certification and training models and responsibly integrate automation.

This panel connects engine NDT to the full aviation safety lifecycle—spanning design, production, ICA, continued operational safety and closed-loop feedback. Moderated by Todd Berkey — A4A managing director, technical operations — this cross-functional FAA panel will frame NDT as an integrated safety enabler and show how FAA oversight functions connect across the engine lifecycle to support safe, reliable operations.

Gain practical insight into how design, production, ICA and continued operational safety processes are coordinated—and how stronger collaboration among FAA, OEMs, operators and NDT specialists can improve inspection effectiveness, support continued airworthiness and highlight emerging issues and future priorities.