Purdue aviation experts create safety guard for Piper Archer aircraft in the Purdue fleet

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — When they approach a Piper Archer aircraft at Purdue University Airport, student pilots and maintenance personnel know with certainty that the engine and propeller are turned off thanks to a safety device created by Purdue Polytechnic Institute experts, which is now available for licensing.

Michael Davis and Jon Ziulkowski have designed and implemented patented magneto safety guards for all 18 Piper Archer aircraft in Purdue’s fleet. Davis is the director of aircraft maintenance, and Ziulkowski is a senior lecturer and Part 141 flight operations quality assessment manager in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology.

“The guard is a clip that fits over the magneto switch at the top of the flight deck only when it is turned off,” Ziulkowski said. “While the clip is in place, the engine cannot be powered on; when the engine is on, the clip cannot be placed over the switch. A footlong ‘remove before flight’ ribbon attached to the clip provides a visual indication to people outside the flight deck that the clip is in place.”

Davis said, “We also have designed the clip to accept a lock that keeps the guard in place. This prevents our students from accidentally attempting to power up an aircraft that is down for maintenance or inspection.”

Davis and Ziulkowski disclosed the magneto safety guard to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization, which has applied for a patent that protects the intellectual property. Industry partners interested in commercializing it should contact Matt Halladay, senior business development manager and licensing manager — physical sciences, at mrhalladay@prf.org, about track code 69452.

Magnetos and safety

A magneto is a self-contained electrical generator that provides spark plugs in an aircraft’s internal combustion engine with the energy needed to ignite the fuel-air mixture. When the magneto switch is on, the craft’s engine and propeller remain on with no external indication of their status.

The magneto switch in the Piper Archer aircraft is part of an overhead line of switches in the flight deck. Davis said before the magneto safety guard was implemented for the Purdue fleet, it was a common occurrence for student pilots to forget to turn off the switches.

“Purdue students fly the 18 Piper Archer aircraft five to six times per day, six days per week and, weather permitting, extra time on Sunday,” Davis said. “Around 25 safety reports were filed for these occurrences after the Purdue fleet was upgraded to the newest models in 2020. Since the magneto safety guard and lock have been used, no safety reports have been filed for accidentally leaving the magneto switch on.”

The safety guards for the Purdue fleet were manufactured in the Indiana Manufacturing Institute, located in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette.

“The rapid design-to-prototype step afforded through our School of Aviation and Transportation Technology colleagues in the IMI helped us to greatly shorten the time between modifications to find the perfect design in far less time than in similar projects I have done in industry,” Ziulkowski said.

About Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university’s academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. In fiscal year 2024, the office reported 145 deals finalized with 224 technologies signed, 466 invention disclosures received, and 290 U.S. and international patents received. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.