LONG BEACH — Having taken up the mantle to bring the Air4All onboard wheelchair securement system through engineering development and manufacturing, Delta Flight Products (DFP) is eyeing supplemental type certification (STC), likely on a narrowbody aircraft type, in the “very near term”.

A groundbreaking product, Air4ALL will enable powered wheelchair users to travel safely and with dignity whilst seated in their own chair onboard aircraft, and is being offered in both business class and economy class models.

Its imminent readiness comes as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prepares to define, in 2025, the safety criteria necessary for supporting a wheelchair restraint system in aircraft cabins. The agency recently said this restraint will be “similar to what’s used in the automotive industry”. The Department of Transportation, meanwhile, is understood to be eyeing a future notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the matter.

“Timing-wise we all know how long it takes generally to get a product on an aircraft. With these products, because they are new, they tend to take a little bit longer so work with the regulators has been paramount in trying to compress that schedule,” DFP product innovation manager Tyler Anderson told attendees at the APEX Global EXPO in Long Beach.

“I think some of you may have seen where FAA came out a week or so ago and posted what their timeline is for being able to come to a conclusion on restraint systems on aircraft. Hugh! Really huge news that they have progressed to that point already. And I know that at Delta Flight Products, the Air4All product is in qualification, and we will be looking to certification in the very near future. So, as soon as the FAA wants to say ‘go’ we’re going to be ready.”

The consortium behind Air4All comprises transport design specialist PriestmanGoode, accessibility advocate Chris Wood MBE of Flying Disabled, EASA-approved design organization SWS Certification and wheelchair manufacturer Sunrise. Together with partner Delta Flight Products, they are confident that Air4All will sync nicely with the FAA’s forthcoming guidance and any NPRM activity.

“That’s been our goal for some time,” Anderson confided to Runway Girl Network on the sidelines of the conference. “We were working towards achieving TSO [technical standard order] for both the business class and the economy version by the end of this year. Both of those applications were submitted in July. And so, we’re working towards being able to submit the STC.”

Given that an onboard wheelchair restraint system is unchartered territory for commercial aviation, Delta Flight Products has been working closely with regulators — sharing its learnings and data — as part of the compressed schedule for bringing Air4All to market.

“We have an amazing certification group; they’re also very knowledgeable about all of the regulations,” noted Anderson. “So, they’ve not only known what to address, but they’ve also been able to make recommendations [about] some of the ideas. So, issue papers that say, ‘you don’t have a policy for this,’ [they say] ‘we’re going to need one. So, here’s a suggestion. We think this could work. You guys let us know.’”

Air4All will be “available to anybody” — i.e. operators around the world, she assured.

Asked by RGN if Air4All will debut on a narrowbody aircraft first, Anderson said:

I think it will be narrowbody simply because all of the user community, the input that we’ve received has been ‘I don’t want to sit in my wheelchair for 12 hours. I don’t want to sit there for eight hours. You know, the shorter flights are more appealing to me. If it’s on a widebody with a lie-flat seat, I’d kind of rather lay down.’

You know, so just by virtue of that and the input that we’ve received from all of the users, yes, I do believe that it will be a narrowbody. Business class? I don’t know yet.

There are obviously different grades of disability and some passengers need to fly with a travel companion whilst others are independently mobile in their own chair. Is Air4All for anybody who is in a wheelchair or is it just for those who require assistance, RGN asked?

“Anybody,” Anderson declared. “Yes, there is no restriction on that. I mean really one of the views that the group has had as we’ve tried to work towards developing has been ‘how do you make this an autonomous journey for a person in a wheelchair?’ So, if they choose to fly with a companion or if they have a need to fly with a companion for other reasons, that’s fine, but there’s no requirement for them to fly with a companion.”

Related Articles:

• FAA to define safety criteria for wheelchairs in the cabin
• First look at Air4All economy wheelchair system, recliner model update
• Accessibility improvements proposed by Delta, Collins and Boeing

Featured image credited to Delta Flight Products