Non‐contact air coupled ultrasound suffers from the high acoustic impedance mismatch characteristics of air to solid interfaces. Advances in transducer technology, particularly MEMS, have improved the acoustic impedance match at the transmission stage and the signal to noise at the reception stage. Comparisons of through transmission (TTU) scanning of laminate and honeycomb test samples using conventional piezoelectric air coupled transducers, new MEMS air coupled transducers, and standard water coupled inspections have been performed to assess the capability. An additional issue for air coupled UT inspection is the need for a lean implementation for both manufacturing and in‐service operations. Concepts and applications utilizing magnetic coupling of transducers have been developed that allows air coupled inspection operations in compact low cost configurations.