GE Aerospace uses new inspection tools to reduce engine shop-floor guesswork, chief engineer says

When Nicole Tibbetts walked into Washington, D.C. for the 66th annual Laureate Awards on March 14, she accepted an award in the MRO category for GE Aerospace investments in engine inspection technology. The honor recognized three different inspection approaches, and it highlighted a theme Tibbetts said she sees every day in maintenance, repair and overhaul work: each engine part presents its own “puzzle,” and better inspection changes how quickly teams can answer what that part needs.

Tibbetts is chief manufacturing engineer for MRO at GE Aerospace. She oversees inspection technology used across the company’s global MRO operations, including 18 MRO shops around the world, according to the company. While her work includes desk-based engineering, she said she also spends time on the shop floor, and that moving inspection advances from research and lab settings into real maintenance workflows is central to her role.

The Laureate Awards singled out three advanced inspection technologies GE Aerospace developed to improve the “efficiency, accuracy, and quality of inspections.” The company described them as investments in digitizing and automating inspection, with one approach focused on ultrasound-based detection, another using an AI-enabled inspection device for turbine blades, and a third exploring an untethered robotic inspection concept.

Ultrasonic immersion is one of the tools. At Aerospace Inspection Solutions (AIS) in Springdale, Ohio, GE Aerospace engineers reportedly submerge used engine parts in large glass tanks of water and pulse the material with high-frequency sound waves, then analyze the returning reflections to identify flaws or internal anomalies. GE Aerospace said the company began investing heavily in the technology in 2019, framing it as “proactive safety” that adds inspection capability to field-run hardware. The company also said ultrasonic immersion can be used not only at AIS, but in MRO shops, third-party overhaul facilities, and non-destructive testing sites where GE Aerospace has partnerships.

For high-pressure turbine (HPT) blades, GE Aerospace highlighted an AI-enabled Blade Inspection Tool (BIT). GE said the device was developed by Bristol Robotic Services, a GE Aerospace company based in the U.K., to inspect stage 1 and stage 2 HPT blades in GEnx-1B and GEnx-2B engines. According to the company, BIT uses an AI-enabled camera that can anchor into position, capture images for review, and count and index blades as they rotate into view, which matters because technicians may need to inspect more than 70 blades inside a GEnx HPT turbine. Tibbetts said BIT helps technicians compare what they see against standards to determine whether a blade is serviceable or not, and that the tool can archive inspection history over time to support predictive decisions about when an engine needs to be removed, aiming to avoid unplanned removals and improve product safety.

GE Aerospace also tied the award to its Sensiworm concept, described as Soft ElectroNics Skin-Innervated Robotic Worm. The company said Sensiworm is still in the research phase at GE Aerospace Research in Niskuna, New York. GE said the system is designed to be untethered (unlike a borescope that is inserted and retrieved manually) and autonomous, able to grip and navigate through tight spaces. GE added that an “electronic skin” would allow the robot to sense surfaces, detect defects and corrosion, and measure thermal barrier coating thickness, while potentially supporting additional inspection modalities beyond visual imaging.

Beyond the three award-recognized tools, Tibbetts’ team is continuing other research aimed at broader inspection coverage. GE said it is testing a non-destructive chemical technique called X-ray fluorescence to map part surfaces and analyze their chemical composition. The company also said Tibbetts is hoping to roll out by the end of the year a module-level ultrasonic probe for the MRO network to enable on-the-spot ultrasonic inspections of HPT rotors for CFM LEAP engines. Still, the company did not provide quantified outcomes in the announcement, such as defect-detection error rates, throughput targets after rollout, or commercial deployment milestones for Sensiworm, beyond noting it is in research and outlining near-term plans for other modules. What to watch next is whether BIT’s planned expansion to the next-generation “maverick blade” and the ultrasonic probe rollout deliver the time and predictive-safety gains the company is aiming to scale, and how quickly autonomous robotic inspection moves from concept to shop-floor deployment.

The CFM LEAP note matters as context. GE said CFM International is a 50-50 joint company between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines, underscoring how inspection tools can become shared enablers across engine programs. For Tibbetts, the services angle is the point: inspection digitization is portrayed as a way to reduce subjective interpretation, standardize decisions, and strengthen the maintenance planning loop that ultimately affects engine removal timing and safety outcomes. If GE follows through on the announced testing paths and modular probe plans, inspection technology could become an increasingly software-driven layer inside routine overhaul work, not just a specialized lab function.