About TRACE

Compliance isn't one-size-fits-all. Neither is TRACE.

Every program below has its own certification tiers, recertification intervals, and paperwork trail — TRACE tracks all of it, per technician and per method, whichever of them your own shop or your clients run on.

Built for

The standards that govern NDT.

NAS410

National Aerospace Standard 410

Sets qualification and certification requirements for NDT personnel across the aerospace industry — Level 1, 2 and 3 competency tiers, minimum training hours, and recertification intervals that every aerospace supplier's program has to track per technician, per method.

SNT-TC-1A

ASNT Recommended Practice SNT-TC-1A

The most widely adopted personnel-qualification framework in general industry. Each employer writes their own qualification practice around it, which means training hours, experience requirements, and exam rules can vary company to company — so what counts as "current" has to be tracked against your own written practice, not a single fixed rulebook.

ASME

ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code

Section V governs the NDT methods themselves; Section XI governs in-service inspection of pressure equipment. Together they set acceptance criteria and personnel requirements for the boilers, vessels, and piping that make up a huge share of industrial inspection work.

ABS

American Bureau of Shipping

Classification rules for marine and offshore structures. NDT verifies weld and structural integrity on hulls, rigs, and vessels so they stay in class — miss an inspection window and a vessel can lose its certification to operate.

NAVSEA

Naval Sea Systems Command

Standards like the T9074 series govern NDT on U.S. Navy ships and submarines — among the most stringent qualification and documentation requirements in the industry, given the safety-critical, defense-related hardware involved.

CP-189

ANSI/ASNT CP-189

A formal ASNT standard for personnel qualification — not just a recommended practice like SNT-TC-1A. Contracts invoke CP-189 specifically when they need a stricter, standardized qualification path instead of an employer's own written practice.

Nuclear

Nuclear Power Generation

Governed by ASME Section XI and ANSI N45.2.6, nuclear NDT demands the highest rigor in personnel qualification and documentation of any program TRACE supports — for good reason, given the consequences of an undetected defect.

Nadcap

National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program

An industry-managed accreditation for "special processes," including NDT. Suppliers face rigorous, recurring audits to keep their accreditation — and losing it can mean losing aerospace contracts outright, so audit-readiness isn't optional.

A&P / IA

FAA Mechanic Certificates and Inspection Authorization

Not an NDT standard, but aviation shops often employ their NDT technicians as mechanics too. 14 CFR part 65 lets an A&P mechanic use the certificate only with recent experience — six months of work as a mechanic in the past 24, or an FAA finding that they can do the work — and an Inspection Authorization runs to March 31 of each odd-numbered year, with an activity such as a refresher course owed in each year. Firms that switch it on keep both beside the technician's NDT certifications, with reminders and a roster of who is current. TRACE's reading of the rule, applied to the dates you enter — not an FAA determination.

These standards and programs are named for reference only. TRACE is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by the organizations that publish or administer them — ASNT, ASME, ABS, NAVSEA, PRI and the Nadcap program, the NAS410 publisher, the Federal Aviation Administration, or any other — and it tracks your firm's compliance with them rather than certifying it.