Thank you for the complements.

I haven't received this issue of Inspection Trends yet, but I'm sure the articles are informative.

I think it is an excellent practice to publish the cases of code of ethics violations that are being heard by the Certification Committee. It is enlightening and educational to read about the different problems a CWI can get into. It goes to show that the CWI are held to a high standard of conduct and we are expected to meet those high standards.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Walter Sperko provided the attendees of the IIW Conference an overview of the progress made on several ISO documents relating to the qualification of WPSs and welders. They are proposing that the standard V-groove weld no longer qualify welders for fillets and groove welds. Instead they are proposing a single bevel groove with a wide root opening. The welder has to deposit the fillet weld in the corner, VT inspect, and then complete the resulting V-groove. I agree with their way of thinking. Welders qualified to the new ISO standards will meet ASME Section IX and AWS B2.1 requirements, but welders qualified in accordance with ASME or AWS B2.1 will not meet ISO.

Whether Section IX will adopt the change is questionable.

By the way, I've included a photograph of our good friend Stephan. I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with him and a couple of his friends last night.

Boy, attending a conference like this is so enlightening to hack like myself. There is so much to learn from the true experts of our industry. Walter Sperko's presentation, as always, was very enlightening. Attending these conferences is expensive, but they open your eyes to what is happening in the world of industry on a worldwide basis.

There were several presentation on P91 material, creep, creep damage, repairs, etc. All good stuff. These fellows don’t know how lucky they are not my next door neighbors. I would spend all my free time picking their brains. I was only able to attend for two days, but I wish I had been here for the entire week.

Stephan is to the right, Vlad Tudorache (CWI / CWE) on the right, fellow in the middle - oops, I forgot the gentleman's name.

Best regards – Al