Project Lead - BJ Daveler
Project Team - GG Grindle, J Kanode
The use of WC securement systems is currently used and designed in accordance with widely accepted safety standards for public and private modes of surface transportation. Such systems are intuitively appealing as a solution to many of the hardships that WC users face when flying because of the current necessity to transfer from their personal WC to an airplane boarding chair and to their airplane seat of which lacks many of the postural supports and pressure relieving mechanisms that many WC users rely on for comfort and prevention of PI. WC securement systems used in surface transportation allow the individual to drive their PW in/out of the vehicle and remain in their PW for the duration of the trip. The ability for people to travel while seated in their PW have been enabled by public policies to ensure individuals who are non-ambulatory have access to employment, medical services, education, shopping, family and social events, and other activities and opportunities similarly to those who are ambulatory. One major exception has been airline transportation, which requires all passengers to travel in an airplane seat. This has greatly hindered the ability for WC users to fly due to the need to transfer out of their PW to an aisle WC and then to an airplane seat that doesn’t accommodate their physical and medical needs. Commercial airline travel is the only mode of transportation that has no regulations to allow PW users to travel safely and with dignity seated in their PW in the aircraft.
The goal of this project is to iteratively design or modify an airplane seat pallet to accommodate the securement of a to allow users to remain in their PW for the duration of a flight. The aims are to progress the design from a 3D CAD model (SA1) to a physical prototype (SA2). This project will progress from proof of concept to proof of product. This project will result in the development of intellectual property and prototype of a specialized airplane pallet for the securement of a PW within the aircraft cabin.
