Timetooth has been working on the project for the past four or five years, and emerged as the first Indian company to apply for an Indian Technical Standard Order (ITSO). This is a system of minimum performance standards for specified materials, parts, processes and appliances used on civil aircraft, similar to the US FAA’s Technical Standard Order.
Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a statutory body of the Government of India to regulate civil aviation in India, has approved the prototype seating system for commercial production. Thatte added that the company has received Production Organisation Approval for commercial production of the prototype system for various aircraft.
State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics is the OEM producing Dornier aircraft in India, and it typically manufactures five Dornier 228 turboprop utility aircraft a year. Therefore, to increase production scale, Timetooth is actively scouting for future orders from other types of aircraft, including Cessna.
Meanwhile, Timetooth has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with aircraft cabin interior and refurbishment company Epsilon Aerospace to design and manufacture seat covers and soft cushions. Foam used in the seats and soft cushions are provided by Epsilon as well as Timetooth’s own vendor base, according to project mananger Mohmmed Imran Hassan. Final assembly will take place at Timetooth’s Bengaluru site.
The seating system has been designed under 9G classification for 19-seater Dornier 228 aircraft, but Timetooth has already started working on higher aviation classification seats, including 16G for regional jets and 21G for larger passenger planes. A prototype of a 16G seat is likely to be ready in the next three years, Hassan said.
Timetooth is known for creating seating systems that test the limits of performance, and during the past two decades has developed DGCA-approved blast-resistant ground vehicle seats and crash-resistant helicopter seats, alongside standard aircraft passenger seats.
