Quiet Technology Aerospace Delivers 200th Corrosion-proof Carbon-fiber Engine Inlet Replacement Barrel

Quiet Technology Aerospace (QTA) delivers its 200th inlet-cowl upgrade incorporating a carbon-fiber replacement inner barrel to Albertsons Companies, a Gulfstream G280 operator out of Boise, ID. The upgrade addresses a growing and expensive fleet-wide problem: aircraft plagued with inlet-cowl inner barrel corrosion on the Honeywell HTF7250G engine inlets.

QTA's engineering and manufacturing program combats the expensive and time-consuming problem of aluminum engine inlet-cowl inner-barrel corrosion and acoustic-screen degradation on several business-jet airframes. QTA replaces the aluminum-based inner barrel with a lighter-weight state-of-the-art carbon-graphite composite barrel which terminates the root cause of the corrosion issue. The barrel comes with a lifetime warranty that remains with the aircraft’s serial number and transfers to any future owner. The QTA upgraded inlet cowls also have lifetime product-liability insurance placed via Lloyds of London, providing owner confidence for total coverage over the life of the aircraft.

The company also announces milestone progress on the 8th airframe candidate to the company’s four-year-old STC program. The Gulfstream G450 is now in the final stages of assembling a first article for FAA Conformity to finalize the STC. This particular inlet offers substantial weight-savings of 40 pounds. Like all QTA composite inner barrels, the barrel will eliminate corrosion permanently on the G450 aircraft.

Barry Fine, CEO of Quiet Technology Aerospace, says, “The delivery to Albertsons of our 200th inlet upgrade, and the imminent approval of a terminating solution for G450 operators, means QTA now has a permanent and terminating corrosion fix for over 2100 aircraft around the world. Everyone at QTA is proud of this achievement. That represents a large amount of time and money saved to operators that have been continuously troubled by expensive and time-consuming inner-barrel corrosion on their original OEM inlet cowls, not to mention the already documented danger of engines ingesting corroded aluminum while operating. The carbon-fiber inlet program ensures QTA customers a safe, simple and quick experience when upgrading that is, most of all, cost-efficient and final. Ours is the industry’s only permanent solution.” 

Fine continues, “Of important note to operators considering QTA’s permanent solution versus an MRO ‘repair’ that is 100% guaranteed to fail again: our warranty program is for the life of the aircraft and is transferable to future owners. The warranty automatically transfers to the new owner. Other companies may promote a ‘lifetime warranty’ but only QTA offers a transferrable warranty.”

Since the carbon-fiber inner-barrel replacement program began in 2015, operators of affected aircraft have shown enthusiastic support of QTA’s technology and the manufacturing quality of their product. In its 34-year history, exactly zero QTA inlet upgrades have failed on aircraft operating over 21 years. The company’s first inlet upgrade was for the Douglas DC-8 in 1986.

QTA’s other STCs for inlet upgrades cover the following aircraft types:

• Bombardier Challenger 300 and 350
• Bombardier Learjet 60 and 60XR
• Dassault Falcon Jet 2000LX-EX
• Gulfstream G200 & G280
• Hawker 1000
• Embraer Legacy 450/500 series and Embraer Praetor 500/600.

QTA additionally offers a low-cost inlet “exchange program” that keeps aircraft free from extended AOG conditions. QTA can provide either exchange inlets or upgrade a complete set of inlet cowls in three weeks, greatly reducing operator downtime compared to alternative corrosion repairs. 

Exchange inlets will be available as early as September this year with the STC forecast to be awarded by the end August.

For more information, contact Martin Gardner, VP of Engineering, at 305.687.9808 x216 or visit www.qtaerospace.com.