Our Story

Long ago in a land far away, Omega Research was born. 

Our founder, Craig Willan has been an active participant in aircraft industry  since the mid 1960’s when he would peddle his bicycle out to the airport to wash and wax Cessna’s for free rides.  In 1971 he hired on as an apprentice Cessna  mechanic while still in high school.  The allure of flight bit him hard, and after earning his pilots license and Bachelors and Masters degrees in Metallurgical Engineering, he went on to a successful career in the helicopter industry.   Accident investigation was one of his responsibilities then, and one fatal accident, caused by hydrogen embrittlement (H.E.) got his attention.  Realizing the aerospace industry was at risk of getting out of control in regards to H.E, and believing he could create better testing equipment and machines than what was available at the time, he went out on his own in 1983.  And just like Steven Jobs, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Bill Boeing,  and others, started Omega Research in his garage. 

He saw exorbitant testing costs, unacceptable time delays, and poor client service as ripe targets for change.  And change did happen !   His engineering background provided the basis for redesigning the load frames critical for sustained load H.E. testing, proving that a load chain with ultra low bending strains is possible. As delivered at numerous technical conferences in those early years, his technical papers revealed unacceptable false positives, crippling the aerospace industry with questions and unknowns.  A pre-eminent U.S. jet engine manufacturer told him in the early days “…thank you for bringing order from chaos….”

Many  phases of exceptional growth mark the long history of Omega Research Inc. and today Omega stands proud at the zenith of the testing industry, offering unexcelled expertise, customer support and integrity of results.

Learn more about Craig Willan

Meet the Leadership Team

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