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APRIL 2016 AviationPros.com 27 PRODUCT PROFILE Rubber Soul There's a give-and-take with older gasket models. A harder rubber gasket lasts longer – it stands up better to wear, tear and abrasion. A softer rubber gasket fts more snugly to an aircraft – you may have noticed airplanes aren't box-shaped. You lose air effciency out of the poor seal created with a hard rubber gasket and you spend more time replacing gaskets if you use a soft rubber. "The perfect gasket, if there was such a thing, it would be extremely soft, but extremely durable," Piety says. Page Industries wanted to avoid that cost-beneft exchange entirely. They started with the hardest rubber they could fnd; Piety says Page used "the most durable material anybody has ever used for a gasket." The next part of their gasket seemed to solve the problem: "The top of that gasket is not perpendicu- lar to the top of the PC Air connector," Piety says. "We cut out a slight 'V' section in the middle of the gasket. Because of our unique design we were able to get our softness just from the gap that's in the gasket itself. That's where you get your give." The PCA610 has been very popular in its frst 18 months. The replaceable gasket – com - bined with a durable connector piece – has airlines and ground handlers latching on. Feature Filled Speaking of latching, Page's patented slot flled design adds a small bar to the back of the latches that connect to the aircraft. The latch addition flls the entire latch slot on the aircraft and adds grip to the hold. "What that means is we fll the whole slot of the aircraft; it makes it much more secure," Piety says. "Much less likely to fall of the aircraft when the operator thinks that they have it engaged." The Page PCA610 also comes with a redesigned debris-blocking screen. It may not sound like the largest revolution in PCA technology, but the new screen allows 5-10 percent more airfow to the aircraft without the addition of new blowers or more power. But wait, there's more: the PCA610 comes with an "integral spinning PCA hose con- nection." Essentially, that's a built-in swivel adaptor. When a connector is attached to an aircraft and the hose gets twisted or kinked before air starts fowing, it can restrict the fow of air and decrease the pressure. "You want to get rid of these twists and kinks in the hose because every time you have one you diminish your airfow," Piety says. When the air hits a twist or kink in the hose, it pushes the obstruction to the end of the hose and the spinning component allows the hose to spin, releasing the obstruction and maximizing airfow to the plane. "It allows them to not have to take the PC Air connector off and rotate it 180 or 360 degrees," Piety says. "It's an easy way to get rid of the twist in the hose." AviationPros.com/10017637