A portable ultrasonic inspection apparatus (10,110,210) comprising: an ultrasonic probe (12,112,212) and an operating unit (14,114,214), the ultrasonic probe comprising: an ultrasonic transducer (16,116,216) including a coupling member (20,120) for contacting and acoustically coupling to a measurement point on a surface of an object to be inspected; and a housing (24,124,224) comprising a frame assembly (22,122) in which the ultrasonic transducer is located with the coupling member arranged at an end thereof; the probe includes three landing elements (26a,b,c, 226a,b,c) for locating the probe on the surface of the object, the landing elements being spaced apart from each other in an array and located at the end of the housing, with the coupling member to contact the measurement point being arranged within the array; and characterised in that: the portable ultrasonic inspection apparatus (10, 110, 210) comprises a stylus (32, 132, 232), the ultrasonic transducer and the coupling member are positioned on the stylus (32,132,232); the housing includes a motion system (28,128) to pivot the stylus about the measurement point; and the three landing elements about the measurement point describe a surface normal plane at the measurement point with a normal vector coinciding with a rest orientation of the stylus to provide a polar coordinate origin for the compilation of polar scan maps using the probe. an ultrasonic transducer (16,116,216) including a coupling member (20,120) for contacting and acoustically coupling to a measurement point on a surface of an object to be inspected; and a housing (24,124,224) comprising a frame assembly (22,122) in which the ultrasonic transducer is located with the coupling member arranged at an end thereof; the probe includes three landing elements (26a,b,c, 226a,b,c) for locating the probe on the surface of the object, the landing elements being spaced apart from each other in an array and located at the end of the housing, with the coupling member to contact the measurement point being arranged within the array; and characterised in that: the portable ultrasonic inspection apparatus (10, 110, 210) comprises a stylus (32, 132, 232), the ultrasonic transducer and the coupling member are positioned on the stylus (32,132,232); the housing includes a motion system (28,128) to pivot the stylus about the measurement point; and the three landing elements about the measurement point describe a surface normal plane at the measurement point with a normal vector coinciding with a rest orientation of the stylus to provide a polar coordinate origin for the compilation of polar scan maps using the probe. the portable ultrasonic inspection apparatus (10, 110, 210) comprises a stylus (32, 132, 232), the ultrasonic transducer and the coupling member are positioned on the stylus (32,132,232); the housing includes a motion system (28,128) to pivot the stylus about the measurement point; and the three landing elements about the measurement point describe a surface normal plane at the measurement point with a normal vector coinciding with a rest orientation of the stylus to provide a polar coordinate origin for the compilation of polar scan maps using the probe.