Oxygen systems manufacturer Aerox has received FAA parts manufacturer approval (PMA) for a replacement kevlar oxygen cylinder for Eclipse 500/550 twinjets. Those aircraft were manufactured more than a decade ago, and their composite oxygen cylinders are coming due for their 15-year Department of Transportation replacement deadline.
“These are hard to come by,” said Aerox president and CEO Scott Ashton. “The PMA allows us to increase availability and reduce cost.” Its new cylinders include overhauled regulators, and the expiration date is extended another 15 years.
“We saw that bow wave coming,” he said. “The lead times [for manufacturing cylinders] are so long—to prevent AOGs we preordered them in advance so we would be ready.”
Aerox did the same process with Piper’s Matrix piston single. “We knew there was a slug of aircraft coming due,” Ashton said, “so we prepositioned inventory." The Matrix has a carbon-fiber oxygen cylinder that also has a 15-year lifetime. “We’re trying to be proactive to make sure customers are not impacted by the supply-chain problem.”
In other news, Aerox parent company O2 Aero Acquisitions recently purchased Fluid Power, a manufacturer of military aircraft components. Aerox itself was acquired in 2020, and in 2022 O2 Aero bought Sky-Ox.