Ravenna – Concrete, steel, party favors, an ice sculpture, balloons and stylish black, silver and red table settings all came together on Wednesday, September 18th at Allen Aircraft’s ribbon cutting for their new building. If you are from the area, then you should be familiar with Allen Aircraft’s reputation and the quality products they produce. In addition to the numerous boys’ baseball and girls’ softball teams they have sponsored over the years.
Their name is synonymous with the development of mechanical products primarily used for aviation, but their products are also utilized by the military, industrial and executive markets With over 70 years in business, they specialize in the production of fluid system components, metal finishing processing, and verification testing (according to their Website).
While all those big words might leave you wondering what are those parts for — just know the company and employees making those pieces stand behind quality products. This is where the new facility for certification testing comes into play. My first-hand experience of the equipment, employees, and testing machines proved they go above and beyond to guarantee products are tested for every feasible safety concern. And let’s just face it, for those of us who travel on airplanes, we really, really want it to be safe!
As it was explained to me an, example of testing parts that go in aircraft goes like this: Imagine you have an airplane sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix, where it’s a sweltering 100 degrees. Your goes up to 30,000 feet in the air, where it colud be 0 degrees or lower.Within 15 minutes your airplane and the pieces making it work need to withstand the temperature and pressure fluctuations at that altitude.
Allen Aircraft’s new certification facility has machines that simulate this atmospheric temperature change. And believe me, when I say they test it not just once or twice, but hundreds of times to also test the wear and tear on the product. The idea of this sends tingles up my spine! That a company in my own hometown has enough forethought and innovation to produce products that keep human life safe makes me so proud of them!
Their amazing open house showed these simulators. When you walk through you see wrenches of every shape and size, extension cords, technicians wearing protective eyewear and control panels that make you feel like you are trying to figure out a NASA computer launch board. Words like heat flux, chip collectors and detectors, shock chamber and flame shield label the different contraptions.
Basically, these are simulators that test the gear systems in a jet engine which send an electric signal to the cockpit. In layman’s terms, when you’re driving a car and see a check engine light come up on the dashboard, it is a signal that you may need to flush your oil or have the engine serviced. The same idea is valid for some of the pieces Allen Aircraft makes and it gives customers reliability about the efficiency of the product, whether it goes in a helicopter, race car, jet plane or fighter jet, as one employee stated while explaining the equipment.
In my time as a reporter, I have covered numerous events, and this was one of the best ribbon-cuttings and the largest I’ve ever experienced with approximately 160 guests. Terry Montz of Innovative Elegance Event Catering along with staff were responsible for the contemporary party décor, fine food and drinks that highlighted Allen Aircraft’s vision for the future with this new expansion. Gentlemen in business suits and ties, lovely ladies in dresses mingled to celebrate the achievements of this local company. Representatives from Jack Kohl Realty, Hummel Construction, United Way, the Area Chamber of Commerce and Parker Aerospace were just a few of the influential groups and community leaders in attendance.
