Patented Safety Clip On University Training Aircraft, Available For Licensing

Student pilots and their instructors and maintenance personnel at Purdue University now know with certainty that the magnetos are off in Piper Archers in the training fleet, thanks to a new safety device created by aviation experts at Purdue Polytechnic Institute.

Michael Davis, director of aircraft maintenance, and Jon Ziulkowski, senior lecturer and Part 141 flight operations quality assessment manager in the University’s School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, designed and implemented their invention on all 18 Piper Archer aircraft in Purdue’s training fleet.

Ziulkowski said, “The guard is a clip that fits over the magneto switch at the top of the flight deck only when it is turned off. While the clip is in place, the engine cannot be powered on; when the engine is on, the clip cannot be placed over the switch. A footlong ‘remove before flight’ ribbon attached to the clip provides a visual indication to people outside the flight deck that the clip is in place.”

Davis said, “We also have designed the clip to accept a lock that keeps the guard in place. This prevents our students from accidentally attempting to power up an aircraft that is down for maintenance or inspection.”

The two inventors showed the magneto safety guard to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization. Industry partners interested in licensing the guard can contact the business development manager for more information.

The guards were manufactured in the Indiana Manufacturing Institute located nearby in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette.

Ziulkowski said, “The rapid design-to-prototype step afforded through our School of Aviation and Transportation Technology colleagues in the IMI helped us to greatly shorten the time between modifications to find the perfect design in far less time than in similar projects I have done in industry.”

FMI:  www.purdue.edu/ , https://www.prf.org/