WICHITA, Kan. - Officials of Cessna Aircraft Co. in Wichita, Kan., needed laser trackers to aid with measurement in its manufacturing facilities. They found their solution from Leica Geosystems AG in Unterentfelden, Switzerland.

Cessna is buying eight portable Leica CMM systems used for industrial measurement and inspection. The acquisition consists of four Leica LTD840 laser trackers, and four Leica LTD640 laser trackers.

Cessna will add mobile, large-volume measurement capabilities to its production floor with the implementation of the Leica laser trackers. Cessna manufactures a variety of aircraft from business jets, to freight-hauling aircraft, to personal and small business single-engine airplanes.

Leica laser tracking systems are for the construction of aerospace tools, precision alignment of large assemblies, the inspection of airplane production parts, part-mating operations, and more. The versatile Leica LTD840 laser tracker can be used to measure a full aircraft or inspect a specific component of a large assembly.

The Leica LTD840 system can be upgraded with the unique Leica T-Probe, an armless and wireless probe providing touch-and-inspect capability with six degrees of freedom. The tracker is also fully compatible with the Leica T-Scan, a handheld high-speed scanner used to capture complex surfaces and contours of an aircraft or automobile.

Leica’s LTD840 laser tracker delivers an ultrafast measurement cycle for high point density (3,000 points/second) and a measurement range reaching 131 feet when used with a corner cube reflector.

For more information contact Leica online at www.leica-geosystems.com.