Page 13 - World Airnews Magazine May 2020 Edition

GENERAL
AVIATION

PIPER BUILDS MEDICAL FACE

SHIELDS DURING PANDEMIC

iper Aircraft, based in Vero Beach,
PFlorida, in the USA has set up a
small assembly line to manufacture thou-

sands of plastic medical protective face
shields for area hospitals during the novel
corona virus pandemic.
It also plans to donate more than 1,300
3M-brand N95-approved masks to the
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Memorial
Hospital in Vero Beach.
Production plans for the face shields,

made from plastic, industrial tape, foam

and elastic, are growing.

What started as an idea to make 2,000
shields for the Cleveland Clinic has grown to

10,000 and then to more than 50,000 for ad- whether Piper could assist. were awaiting another plastic shipment,

ditional Cleveland Clinic hospitals in Florida. Initially, Piper said it would make 2,000 expected to be delivered later that day.

Other hospitals are contacting Piper as well. face shields, Carlon said. “The challenge is to get enough plastic,” Car-

“Calls are coming in every day,” said Jack- “Then the hospital called and said, ‘Could lon said. “We sourced everything we could.”

ie Carlon, Piper senior director of market- you make 10,000?’ Now, the number is likely At the same time, Piper, Vero Beach’s

ing and communications. to grow beyond the 50,000 in the plan, she largest employer, continues to build aircraft

In less than a week, Piper moved from said. The company is charging a nominal fee to but at a slower rate than normal.

an idea to prototypes and production. cover costs but is not out to make a big profit. The aircraft are sold but many buyers can’t

The company has the ability to produce “We’re doing this because it’s the right travel to Florida to pick them up. Many flight
thousands of face shields daily as long as it thing to do,” Carlon said. schools have temporarily closed.

can procure the plastic it needs. That is the It is a critical time for the community, the “We’re stacking them up,” Carlon said

challenge,” Carlon said. country and the world, said James Funk, of the finished aircraft. Some private flight

The idea to help in the fight against the Piper’s chief operations officer. “As a team, schools or dealers, however, have been

virus causing COVID-19 emerged from a we can make a difference for people in able to take delivery of their new aircraft.

regular meeting, she said. Simon Caldecott, need and directly support those fighting Piper is also supporting aircraft in the field.

president and CEO, approached Piper’s the battle on the front lines of this unprece- In the meantime, the company is striving
manufacturing engineers to ask what the dented crisis. This is just one small way that to keep workers as far away from one an-
company might do to help. we are trying to help.” other as possible. It must balance the safe-

The engineers had been following the short- The production line, separate from ty of the employees with their livelihoods

age of personal protective equipment and aircraft manufacturing, is made up of nine and the needs of business, Carlon said.

looking for ways to help. They began discuss- employees working at least 6 ft. apart. “If we can balance it and keep them safe
ing face shields and found a pattern online. Piper can make 40 shields from one large and where they’re not being exposed, we’ll

In the meantime, the head of the Cleve- sheet of plastic. On March 30, workers keep working,” Carlon said, at least until there

land Clinic hospital called Caldecott to ask completed the first batch of 650 shields and is a government mandate to do otherwise. Q
UNIVERSAL AVIONICS OPENS ITS DOORS
of Tucson, Pima County, and the Arizona “We are grateful for the tremendous
Technology Council, and is a great exam- outpouring of support to protect our

niversal Avionics has assisted ple of our community coming together,” healthcare workers and first respond-
said Steve Pagnucco, vice president of
ers,” said Daniel Dicochea, director of
Uthe local Tucson community in operations at Universal Avionics. Hope Worldwide’s Tucson chapter.

protecting healthcare workers and first re- “Within one week of reaching out to “We want to equip as many of our

sponders during the COVID-19 pandemic. our partners to see how we could help, heroes as we can against this pandemic,”
The company provided the non-profit we had an assembly line safely set up to he said. “The production of these shields

group, Hope Worldwide (Tucson Chap- produce much needed personal protec- is only possible because of community
ter), with assembly line space at their tive equipment,” he said. donors and volunteers.”

Tucson headquarters to manufacture “On behalf of Universal Avionics, I To learn more about Hope Worldwide’s
medical face masks and shields. would like to thank everyone involved mission or to volunteer to help create
“This plan was developed in coordina- for their incredible responsiveness, medical face masks and shields, please

tion with the University of Arizona, City co-operation and teamwork.” visit www.hopeww.org/tucson Q

World Airnews | May 2020
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