[en] The remote field eddy current testing (RFECT) is usually used for inspection of ferromagnetic small tubes with inner coils. The aim of this study is to clarify the precise characteristics of RFECT for inspection of flat plates with pancake coils, which has rarely appeared in the literature. The study was performed by actual experiments and computations based on electromagnetic analysis to evaluate the capability of RFECT to detect a defect and estimate the shape of a defect. This paper introduces some of the results obtained from these computations for a simple probe configuration having only one excitation and one pick-up coils. The results shows even this simple configuration enables RFECT to detect local wall thinning and roughly estimate its shape. (author)