AIR Inc and
The Flight Ultralight Wheelchair
in the News!!
The flight is also featured in Quest this month in Kathy Wechsler's column "As The Wheel Turns" a showcase editorial of new and exciting technologies in the world of accessibility.
Excerpt: "Travel is easy with the Flight. Just pull up on the handle attached to the seat, and the wheelchair folds to a width of just 9-and-a-half inches from handrim to handrim."
"One of the coolest things I enjoy is that it is not your typical design. Where tubes are great for many thing, the design of this may just provide more comfort and other benefits for certian users than others."
While it is no surprise to us that people are getting excited about The Flight, it's nice to know that the community sees it the same way we do.
Please feel free to give us your own thoughts on The Flight and if you already own one, we would love your feedback.
Starting from scratch
The goals of the AIR’s design were strength and light weight, especially on the wheelchair components they would be manufacturing, including frame panels, caster fork, rear-axle plate, and folding foot plate. Other parts, such as the standard wheels, hand rims, and hubs, they decided to purchase from suppliers. But whether parts were made or outsourced, they also needed to have a built-in safety factor.
Read the rest at Machine Design Magazine
When Aero Innovative Research, Inc. (AIR) of Valley Center, Kansas, decided to apply its aerospace-industry experience to the design of a new, high-technology wheelchair, they chose ALGOR finite element analysis (FEA) software for stress analysis of its custom-manufactured components. Made from the same materials used in aircraft, AIR's product, the Flight Ultralight Wheelchair, underwent extensive FEA simulation to make it as lightweight and compact as possible while ensuring necessary performance and durability.
"It's the world's lightest and tightest-folding, fully adjustable, customizable wheelchair," said Matt Cochran, AIR production manager. The Flight wheelchair weighs just 18 pounds and measures only 9-1/2 inches from hand-rim to hand-rim when folded, which provides greater mobility, ease of use and independence to people with physical challenges. "The Flight was designed in about a year," said Cochran. "ALGOR stress analysis provided a great way to rapidly perfect the design of our product. We couldn't have done it without ALGOR FEA software."
Read the rest at ALGOR.com
Enterprising businessman turns crisis to opportunity
BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR
The Wichita Eagle
Before Sept. 11, 2001, Keith Entz was in the aircraft parts business. "I had my own manufacturing shop and was doing work for all the Wichita companies," he said. "Then 9/11 hit, and it was like turning off a faucet. There just wasn't any business anymore."
He was looking for a new way to put his engineering degree and technical skills to work in a new career, when one day, for no apparent reason, he noticed a wheelchair.
"Looking at that thing as an engineer, I was just appalled," he said. "It just screamed 'antiquated technology.' I remember thinking that it was a crime that people with disabilities would be stuck rolling around in technology 70 years out of date."
That was the beginning of Aero Innovative Research Inc., a Wichita company that builds and sells a new kind of wheelchair.
Shortly after startup, Entz recruited a business partner, David Kirkwood, who uses a wheelchair.
"I thought it would be a good idea to have someone with an end user's perspective," he said. "When I met David, it just worked out."
AIR Inc.' s production manager, Matt Cochran, also an aviation veteran, joined the company soon thereafter.
In December, AIR Inc. received code approval for the Flight Ultralight Wheelchair from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That will make reimbursement easier.
The company already has sold 11 chairs since production started Jan. 25.
AIR chairs come in 16 sizes, a variety of colors and can be customized for individual users.
Casey Berube, a 16-year-old sophomore at Campus High School, has had her AIR chair since spring break.
"I love it," she said. "It's so much lighter. I can get it in and out of the car by myself. And it's more comfortable to sit in and to use. And it's really easy to fold."
The AIR chair was pretty much designed from scratch.
"Traditional chairs use tube-and-fabric construction, like we saw in pre-World War II airplanes," Entz said. "Our model uses sandwich panels."
Most of the major parts are lightweight, rigid foam clad in aluminum. The finished chair weighs just under 18 pounds, compared with the 50-plus pounds of a conventional chair.
The seat is hinged to allow tight fold-up, but unlike the "sling" fabric construction of conventional chairs, provides a rigid seating surface.
It parts are all machined, and it is put together with American-made aerospace fasteners and an extruded aluminum hinge.
An AIR chair retails for about $3,500, and for most users it is covered by insurance.
Entz said private investors have been the key to surviving during the long process of getting the chair into production.
Reach P.J. Griekspoor at 316-268-6660 or pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com.
WORLD'S LIGHTEST, RIGID, FOLDING FRAME WHEELCHAIR NOW IN PRODUCTION
Valley Center, KS – With the final stages of the production process complete, the groundbreaking Flight Ultralight Wheelchair is now available for purchase. Designed, developed and manufactured by Aero Innovative Research, Inc. (AIR, Inc.) of Valley Center, Kansas, the Flight Ultralight features lightweight aerospace components, and is the world’s lightest, fully-adjustable, rigid, folding frame wheelchair. The wheelchair weighs just 18 pounds with wheels, and can be folded to a width of 9 1/2 inches, hand rim to hand rim.
“This has been a long and challenging journey,” said Keith Entz, president of Air, Inc. “Due to our aerospace-based construction techniques and the precise tolerances required, our production capability has been under constant refinement. We’re delighted to finally be able to produce and sell a better wheelchair.”
In May 2006, AIR, Inc. received FDA approval (510K) for the manufacture of its chair. In December 2007, the Flight wheelchair received code approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for inclusion in the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), used by health insurance programs in the processing of reimbursement claims.
Other technical improvements of the Flight Ultralight Wheelchair:
- Caster Bearings: Features a combination roller/needle bearing rated for 6,000 pounds axial (up and down) load and 2,000 radial (front to back and side to side load). Most other wheelchairs currently use a single ball bearing race rated at 350 pounds radially, and not designed for axial loading.
- Rigid Frame: The rigid frame structure eliminates the weaknesses inherent in weld-based construction. It is Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machined and constructed using built-in solid aluminum through bushings and threaded inserts, high tensile strength American-made aerospace fasteners and an extruded aluminum hinge. All aluminum parts are made from non-weldable hard-alloys such as 7075-T6, which is 84% stronger than the 6061-T6 alloy tubing used in most welded aluminum frame wheelchairs.
Flight Ultralight Wheelchair receives insurance coding
Valley Center, KS – A groundbreaking wheelchair, designed, developed and manufactured by Aero Innovative Research of Valley Center, Kansas, has received code approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The wheelchair design was submitted to the Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (SADMERC), which conducts reviews of products to determine eligibility for the assignment of a code within the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS). The HCPCS is the control mechanism Medicare and other health insurance programs use in the processing of claims for reimbursement. The Flight Ultralight Wheelchair has been given the code K0005 Ultralightweight wheelchair.
The Flight Ultralight is made from lightweight aerospace components, making it world’s lightest folding, fully adjustable wheelchair. It weighs just 18 pounds and can be folded to a width of just 9 1⁄2 inches, hand rim to hand rim.
“This is a major milestone for our company and our dream of bringing Flight to the marketplace,” said Keith Entz, president of Aero Innovative Research. “This opens the door for our distributors in the durable medical equipment field to begin taking orders for our chair.”
The design features of the Flight Ultralight wheelchair make it easier to transport while offering the user a more stable and efficient ride.
“We set out to build a better wheelchair and we have,” continued Entz. “We believe our chair provides health and lifestyle benefits to those using it and caregivers no longer have to endure the weight and cumbersome nature of conventional chairs constructed from tubing.”
HCPCS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Each year, in the United States, health care insurers process over 5 billion claims for payment. For Medicare and other health insurance programs to ensure that these claims are processed in an orderly and consistent manner, standardized coding systems are essential. The HCPCS Level II Code Set is one of the standard code sets used for this purpose. The HCPCS is divided into two principal subsystems, referred to as level I and level II of the HCPCS. Level I of the HCPCS is comprised of CPT (Current Procedural Terminology), a numeric coding system maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA). The CPT is a uniform coding system consisting of descriptive terms and identifying codes that are used primarily to identify medical services and procedures furnished by physicians and other health care professionals. These health care professionals use the CPT to identify services and procedures for which they bill public or private health insurance programs. The AMA makes decisions regarding the addition, deletion, or revision of CPT codes. The CPT codes are republished and updated annually by the AMA. Level I of the HCPCS, the CPT codes, does not include codes needed to separately report medical items or services that are regularly billed by suppliers other than physicians.
Level II of the HCPCS is a standardized coding system that is used primarily to identify products, supplies, and services not included in the CPT codes, such as ambulance services and durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) when used outside a physician's office. Because Medicare and other insurers cover a variety of services, supplies, and equipment that are not identified by CPT codes, the level II HCPCS codes were established for submitting claims for these items. The development and use of level II of the HCPCS began in the 1980's. Level II codes are also referred to as alphanumeric codes because they consist of a single alphabetical letter followed by 4 numeric digits, while CPT codes are identified using 5 numeric digits.
Two aircraft engineers founded Aero Innovative Research, Inc. (AIR, Inc.) in 2005 with the mission of providing improved technology in the durable medical device field. Driven by an extensive background in aerospace engineering and manufacturing and a passion for helping others, AIR, Inc. developed the Flight Ultralight Wheelchair to increase the quality of life for individuals in wheelchairs.
Business was drying up for Keith Entz and his company, Entz Aerodyne.
An economic downturn punctuated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had slowed work at Entz's firm, a subcontractor to business jet makers, to the point "where it wouldn't support us," he says.
That's when Entz and two partners began looking outside the aviation industry for something they could manufacture and they wouldn't be at the bottom of the supplier food chain.
Read the rest at The Wichita Business Journal