The basic nondestructive testing theory and the technological characteristics of the active infrared thermography are introduced by illustrating the different active heating methods such as impluse heating excitation,phase lock-in heating excitation,ultrasonic excitation and microwave excitation.It is also presented the application of active infrared thermography in the fileds of aircraft structure destructive testing,aircraft skin corrosion testing,composite material destructive testing,cooling passage testing and crack testing of turbine blades.The existing application problems and developing trend of aircraft testing based on the active infrared thermography nondestructive testing are also presented.