A lightweight, easy-to-use jet inlet and exhaust protection system called Jet\Brella is being promoted here by Granitize (Booth No 1357), but may be seen in a typical application on a BBJ in the static display.

Bad weather, debris and even animals can result in jet engine damage, so rigid inlet covers are widely used to deal with such threats. But in the early 1990s an umbrella style inlet cover was conceived as a durable, lightweight and pilot-friendly alternative to the less easily stored rigid type.

Inspired by a golf umbrella, industrial designer Jim Kennedy worked on adapting it to function as a jet engine inlet cover and the rest, as they say, is history. Today, hundreds of inlet and exhaust covers have been produced by Jet\Brella at Van Nuys, California, tailored to support just about every corporate jet you can imagine. Boeing, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Hawker, Sabreliner and Westwind are among manufacturers of bizjet models that have had the easy-to-use umbrellas especially tailored to fit their engines.

So what is the connection with Granitize? Well quite simply this is another California-based company, which happens to represent Jet\Brella here in Europe and the Middle East where it is also promoting the Xzilon liquid formula for aircraft applications.

Said to prevent parasitic drag and corrosion on both polished and unpolished bare metal surfaces, Xzilon has been specified by such illustrious corporate jet operators as the Dubai Air Wing, Emirates Royal Flight and Jet Aviation. The demonstration sample on the Granitize booth shows that Xzilon will even resist the attention of graffiti paint.