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Post virus instructing

We have this 1m distance, so instructing is out of the question for the time being. However, all the 1 to 1 close contact businesses (dentist, hairdressers, massage etc) has opened (they have special rules), so it is only a matter of time. The health authorities in Norway don’t believe in masks (as the only authority in the world I would guess , which will create some fun aftermath discussions on TV I am sure ), so when it open, it will probably be without masks (I hope).

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

On the FFA website they have been in discussions with the DGAC and the minister of Sport, and although nothing will be announced until May 7th they are working towards (among other things) from May 11th flights in double command being permitted as a matter of priority, amd no limitation on solo flights. They accept that there may be conditions such as distance limits, wearing of masks and passengers.
We will see in 4 days. Fingers crossed.

France

Peter wrote:

Even better: use UVC lamps which make ozone.

Something about filling up an object whose major threat to existence is oxidation with a very efficient oxidiser wouldn’t sit well with me

EIMH, Ireland

I don’t think ozone makes steel or aluminium corrode especially. It will be in place for maybe 30 mins. I’ve just (yet again) done some googling and while, as I said earlier, no normal lab has CV19 samples for testing as yet so any data is based on SARS samples, the view seems to be that anything from 30 seconds to 30 minutes kills every known microbe.

How much of a concentration is needed, I have not found data on, but a 25W UVC lamp of the type which makes ozone will probably do it in some tens of minutes.

It may just be easier to wear disposable gloves and always use your own headset.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

You have to ventilate the area before getting in, because making ozone by UVC in an area with normal air also creates nitrous oxide. If you want pure ozone you need to start with pure oxygen

It’s actually NO and NO2, not N2O, and the chemistry there is a bit more complex – in fact, the presence of NOX helps generate ozone. But you would have to ventilate the cockpit after pure oxygen as well – ozone is more toxic than NO2, and its chemical effects on the biomolecules are nastier.

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

Ozone to clean a cockpit is a big NO! It destroys rubber, plastic and leather, and probably a bunch of other stuff. Ozone is an very powerful oxidizer, and almost everything in an aircraft oxidizes.

LT has put up info of how to do it. You can make good disinfectant yourself by mixing 60/40 or 50/50 of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and water. For windows (plexiglass) and leather it’s good enough to use dish washing soap and water.

Here is a how to disinfect. Google translation (it’s better to google translate the web page itself):

Disinfection of small aircraft and helicopter
As a measure to reduce infection by COVID-19, EASA has prepared recommendations for disinfecting aircraft in scheduled traffic. The CAA has adapted these recommendations for use on smaller aircraft and small aircraft used in a private context.

There is a difference between an aircraft operated by one person only and aircraft used by several persons. If you have your own aircraft or helicopter and no one else uses it, it will normally only be your own infection in the aircraft. In a club flight, on the other hand, it will be able to contain infection from many other users.

The coronavirus infects through body fluids. This means that droplet infection by hosting and sneezing is a direct route of infection. It has also been shown that the virus can lie on surfaces and survive for a long time. These may be surfaces that an infectious carrier has touched, but also surfaces that are new or coughed. To reduce the risk of infection, these surfaces should therefore be disinfected.

Tips if the aircraft is used by several people:
Cleaning:

The aircraft should be disinfected between each flight.
Clean all places where there is contact between hands, aircraft and equipment.
Do not use compressed air, steam cleaner or high pressure washer because you can swirl viruses in the air which can then infect.
Do not start with a vacuum cleaner. Again, you can swirl viruses in the air which can then infect. Vacuuming should only be used after the area to be vacuumed has been disinfected. Preferably, the vacuum cleaner should stand outside the aircraft so that the exhaust air is blown away.
Do not use ozone. Although ozone effectively attacks organic matter, it can attack the interior of rubber, plastic and leather. Especially rubber hoses can be attacked by ozone.
Do not use hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is also effective, but can form vapors that attack acrylic, leather and polycarbonate windows.

Use a disinfectant that has a proven effect against coronavirus.
A list of such disinfectants can be found here:
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

If you do not get ready for finished products, you can make a mixture yourself. A solution of Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) 60% mixed with 40% pure water provides a solution that you can use on panels or sprayed on carpets and seats. A 50/50 mix can be used on most instrument panels. Leather and windows are damaged by alcohol. Here, a regular dish soap, mixed as for the dishes, will do the trick.
It is important that you do not use the wrong disinfectant in the wrong place.
For example:

Some agents are corrosive. Do not use such agents on metals.
Some remedies make plastic crazy. Do not use these on plastic. Special attention must be paid to wires where the insulation can be damaged and short circuits can occur.
Some agents are aggressive towards textiles. Do not use these on textiles. In particular, seat belts must be spared for this type of disinfectant to maintain their strength.
For electronic displays, clean microfiber cloth should be used to avoid scratches. Do not use wipes, citric acid or sodium bicarbonate products. These can etch the display. Typically, avionics with anti-reflection glass, such as G 1000, can be cleaned with a 50% IPA solution. Some displays have plastic screens (made of acrylic, lexane or polycarbonate). Avionics with plastic screens, such as the GNS 430 and 530 series, will be destroyed by alcohol. Instead, use a mild soap mixture and check the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Most virus disinfectants can be dangerous if used directly on humans. Provide good ventilation where the agents and use protective equipment as recommended by the manufacturer of the agent.

Before you fly

Wear gloves for aircraft inspection before flying.
Wear gloves while flying, but make sure they give you good mobility and do not prevent you from operating equipment on board. Good Nomex size gloves are a tried and tested variety.
Use your own personal equipment. This is especially true for “headsets”, but also for example life jackets. The virus has been found to transmit easily through the mucous membranes of the head, eyes, nose, mouth, lungs and throat. Using a “headset” that others have used will pose a risk, even if it has been disinfected.
In a cockpit, there are a lot of touch points, switches and levers, but also a number of places you point and take to verify that things are right. Typically, for example, people will point to inserted QNH on the altimeter and point to “heading bug”. These instruments should therefore be disinfected. Be careful not to apply more, or let it work any longer, than is necessary to kill viruses. Therefore, use a soft, dry cloth to wipe the cockpit so that no disinfectant enters the instrument panel and gets astray.

Always remember to check the health authority’s guidelines to avoid infection. When this article is published, a minimum of 1 meter distance between people is encouraged. In practice, this means that you can only be a person on board small aircraft, if this distance cannot be maintained.

See the public health institute’s theme page on coronavirus here

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

LeSving wrote:

The health authorities in Norway don’t believe in masks (as the only authority in the world I would guess , which will create some fun aftermath discussions on TV I am sure ), so when it open, it will probably be without masks (I hope).

Unfortunately they are not. Switzerland has poh-poh’ed masks from the outset, which given the fact that they most definitely do have protective qualities is generally accepted as a tactics to prevent hamster buys of what then already basically did not exist anymore. At the outset of the pandemic, it was found very fast that compulsory stock of protective gear had been neglected and in some cases willfully been ignored, so in the first couple of weeks most hospitals had massive shortfalls. It was clear therefore that the public could not be supplied with masks in sufficient quantities, so the authorities decided to downplay (or lie about) their effectivity.

The question in my mind, knowing what we see know, is if the complete lockdowns as we saw them could have been prevented with sufficient supplies of masks in addition to the other practices of distancing and personal hygiene. It appears to me that this could well have been so and moreover may well work in the scenario of a 2nd wave, if people strictly adhere to the whole shebang of measures in sufficient numbers. So, masks on in public places where ever there is a chance you enter into their infective radius, strict manual hygiene and desinfection capability (carry hand sanitizer, use often and whenever you touch sth), hand washing and desinfecting as well as social distancing to the maximum of capabilities may well become the modus vivendi for a while.

Where I work, we really early started with all of this safe masks, which was ok as our desks are sufficiently distanced from each other. Initially we had raw hands from all the desinfection, the washing facilities were used quite a lot and we practiced Homeoffice for every possible work. So far, knock on wood, we have not had any infections in the whole outfit which has occurred within the premises and only one which has occurred fully off premises. That is not a bad record imho.

What is also quite different to the beginning of the crisis is that most people take it DARN seriously, however, they do have the itch and compulsive need to go out and do their stuff but are willing to cooperate in terms of “if i do x, y, and z, may I then go about my business?”. In the beginning, people simply ignored the simplest hygiene measures so the lockdown became a necessity not only but also in part to get the message across to those who did not think the coffin filled churches in Italy or elsewhere were any of their business.

Fact is, there is enough masks now available for everyone, now the next bit is we need testing capability for everyone who agrees to be tested as well. The good news here for now is the fact that new infection numbers are down sufficiently (sub 100 for the country) that individual contact tracing is actually possible for the first time ever.

We shall see how the opening of certain businesses has affected this in the next few days, given that hardware stores and garden centers plus some others now have been open for a week.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Yeah, don’t put ozone in your plane’s cockpit.



Andreas IOM

172driver wrote:

Be careful around GPS screens, especially touchscreen ones. They are best wiped down – or so we’re being told – with lens leaning wipes like the ones you use to clean your glasses. As long as they contain 70%+ alcohol, they apparently kill the nasties.

I though you know me? I use only TSO approved wipes for instruments.

Last Edited by Snoopy at 04 May 00:00
always learning
LO__, Austria

Yeah, don’t put ozone in your plane’s cockpit.

Funnily enough I left a disposable glove in my ozone+UV steriliser yesterday and after an hour or more in there there is no detectable degradation in the material.

So the concentration is probably much lower.

They seem to be going up to nearly 1000ppm, but it isn’t clear how much is needed to kill viruses. Probably much much less. When I researched this years ago I found the smell threshold is about 1% of the toxicity threshold, FWIW.

They must have had the mother of UV generators in that youtube video. Probably a discharge tube, and quite possibly starting with pure oxygen which makes the generation 5x faster.

Swimming pool ozone generators use a discharge tube but they have a strong airflow running through it, whereas in this case it is a confined space. Yet the ozone generated in the pool context kills everything in the pipe which runs into the pool.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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