ISU aviation prof develops nationwide aircraft inspection course
The idea came to Kurt Barnhart in his car late one cold February night.
Bushed and bleary-eyed, the Indiana State University aviation professor was returning home from a day-long course required to renew his authorization as a certified aviation inspector. An early-morning wake-up, three hours on the road from Terre Haute to the seminar in Springfield, Ill., eight hours of lectures and training on aviation inspection procedures and now the return trip home.
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Kurt Barnhart, assistant professor of aerospace technology at Indiana State University, developed the first-of-its-kind online aircraft inspection authorization course for Gleim Publications Inc. The course aircraft mechanics and inspectors to gain their certification online.
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"This has got to change," Barnhart remembers thinking, "because it just wasn't worth it. I knew I wasn't going to renew [the inspection authorization], and there are a lot of other people in the same boat as me."
So he called Dr. Irvin Gleim, CEO of Gleim Publications, Inc., a leading publisher of study and training materials for pilots and accountants. Barnhart pitched the idea for an online study module for an inspection authorization renewal course.
"They said, 'hey, you write it, we'll develop it and publish it online,' " Barnhart recalled.
"We had the engine here and the support staff and the contacts at the FAA," Gleim added, "so it was a good match for us."
So Barnhart went to work creating a series of eight hour-long lessons covering everything from aircraft wood structure inspections to weight and balance to human factors in aircraft maintenance. The result is the first online inspection authorization renewal course approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Of around 20,000 certified aircraft mechanics nationwide, approximately 75 percent are required to complete eight hours of renewal training every year to keep their inspection certification current. Like Barnhart, who teaches piloting ground school, general aviation and aircraft safety for ISU's aerospace technology program, most must pay for their certification at their own expense.
For Gleim Publishing, the new course expands the company's aviation training and review products beyond piloting and flight instruction and into the field of aircraft inspection.
"This is a relatively small market," Gleim acknowledged of IA, "but it's an important market as far as contributing to the safety of aviation. That's, I think, where our real heart and commitment is. This is largely a service with this product to the [inspection authorization] community."
Gleim said he would like to collaborate with Barnhart on other projects.
Barnhart, a former systems instructor for ATA, said he's satisfied knowing he's helping other people who find themselves in the same boat as he did.
"It's good to know that you're helping other guys out there that are in the same boat," Barnhart said, "and it's good to be able to influence the direction of inspection and bring it into the 21st century."
The irony of it all, Barnhart notes, is that although he wrote the course, he is still required to take it himself.
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Contact: Kurt Barnhart, assistant professor, aerospace technology, Indiana State University, (812) 237-2665 or r-barnhart@indstate.edu; Irvin Gleim, CEO, Gleim Publications, Inc., Irvin@gleim.com
Writer: Mark Gibson, assistant director, communications & marketing, Indiana State University, (812) 237-3790 or devgibso@isugw.indstate.edu
ISU Communications and Marketing: (812) 237-3773 or http://www.indstate.edu/news
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