ABC International has launched what it hails as one of the most versatile life-vest boxes in the aviation market. The ABC rigid transparent box is already flying with an unnamed “major air carrier” worldwide and is now available for any seat-maker and airline looking for a durable, easy-to-check life-vest container that can also help prevent the theft of vests.
The Italian company has designed the transparent box in compliance with certification standards and in accordance with TSA safety and security regulations. As such the box offers passengers easy access to take the life-vest in every seating position across the cabin, whenever needed, with a single quick action.
An anti-intrusion system in the box prevents unwanted access, while special seals avoid and discourage passengers form improperly removing the life vest or introducing any foreign or dangerous object. The transparent material allows crew to perform quick visual inspections during transit checks.
According to ABC, the main features include easy access, the lowest possible weight; tailor-made sizing; and high flexibility to integrate the box in a variety of different seat models. In order to give an added value to the product, ABC International engineered and designed the box to be easily installed on the most common seats by means of an adaptable aluminium interface sheet. The box has been sized to allow installation of the most common standard single-cell passenger life preservers.
The Life Vest Rigid Box is manufactured using flame-retardant and high-strength polycarbonate resin-UV stabilised material by means of injection moulding.
ABC International says the box is airworthy and ready to be installed on board. It is fully compliant with the CS/AR 25.853(a) requirements and has been successfully tested as part of the “seat system” against CS/FAR 25.562.
ABC International can perform the box retrofit installation on board under Part21J, while a cooperation is also possible with seat OEMs to integrate it in any cabin environment and configuration, and on brand-new seats.
Olindo Spatola, head of design organization at ABC International stated, “When I was informed about this project I suddenly realised the importance of developing a flexible design to fit any future requests. The challenging part has been to fulfil our client’s requirement having in mind that this product will be required to fly for many years, and for other partners with different needs.