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AIA Recognizes National Aerospace Standards Committee for NAS Modernization Project Completion

Pictured in front of a F-14 (from left to right): Chris Carnahan (AIA) Michael Zehner (Spirit AeroSystems – NASC Chair), Chris Hernandez (Northrop Grumman Corporation), Rusty Rentsch (AIA), Bill Horton (Bell Helicopter – NASC Vice Chair), Chuck Brannon (Lockheed Martin) and David Cutuli (The Boeing Company).

AIA’s National Aerospace Standards Committee (NASC) celebrated an important milestone by completing a significant upgrade to the National Aerospace Standards (NAS) library. Over the past three years, the NASC has modernized, reviewed and approved approximately 1,300 NAS standards, with less than 100 NAS standards still to be published. The outcome of this effort is a higher quality product that will make future work in the aerospace and defense industry more efficient and afford opportunities for growth.  The standardization of fasteners and other components used by the aerospace and defense industry leads to significant production cost savings, and AIA has supported this process since the 1940s. 

At a January 15th reception recognizing the near-completion of the project, Northrop Grumman’s Chris Hernandez, the current chairman of the AIA Technical Operations Council, which has oversight over the NAS Committee, said “I’m here to thank you for what you’ve done; I’m here to commend you for your professionalism, and as a citizen of this great United States, thank you for your contribution to the country.”

With the near completion of this project, the committee has set their sights on improving their internal processes for ensuring that the standards provide the highest value for the aerospace and defense industry. 

As part of the NAS committee’s 211th meeting in Tucson, AZ, AIA honored the committee for their hard work and commitment to the program. The venue for this event was appropriately the PIMA Air & Space Museum, where many of the aircraft hanging overhead and exhibited around the museum utilized large quantities of NAS fasteners.

AIA has been the developer of the National Aerospace Standards for 75 years. More information about the NAS standards can be found on-line at www.aia-nas.org.

AIA Source: chris.carnahan[at]aia-aerospace.org