Page 22 - Volume 14 Number 4

PRODUCTREVIEW
Jet Shades for the Cirrus –
Made in the Shade
by RICH PICKETT
One of the reasons we purchased our Cirrus SR22 was the expansive view from the cockpit. The view is amazing, however, along with that great vista comes a considerable amount of UV (ultraviolet) and solar radiation. In 42 years of flying I’ve tried various methods to control the sun, from custom shades I’ve made to vinyl cling material.
The Rosen shades in my SR22 work great, but just don’t cover enough area and don’t block UV or significant solar radiation. The vinyl cling sheets are very flexible, but optically not very good. I even went to the extent of finding UV filtering vinyl material to reduce the radiation. Recently I was making another of my designs using tinted thin acrylic sheets, when I came across a better mouse trap – Jet Shades.
At first, I was questioning how they could be better than my own designs until I used a set in my Eclipse 500. My custom shades now languish in my garage. I contacted
The windshield eyebrow shade comes with the premium panels as standard, which block even more IR and UV rays.
An exterior view of the pilot window with the shades installed.
Kevin Duggan, founder of Jet Shades, who flies his Cirrus and other aircraft, and is a wealth of information on shielding us from the sun. Kevin uses an optically clear polycarbonate sheet, and then applies proprietary coatings to reflect and block most of the harmful radiation. The result in the standard version is a plastic panel that blocks 99 percent of the UVA and UVB rays, 82 percent of the solar heat and 72 percent of the visible light. The premium shades, which are used for the windshield eyebrow and storage skylight panels, block even more, around 96 percent of light.
There is more variance in window trims than I thought.
In my Eclipse, which was also Kevin’s first design, the
fit is easier since the windows are smaller and the trims are virtually all the same. Jet Shades has options for all
of the Cirrus models. The kits for the later generations, G4-G6, fit out of the box. With the G1 and G2s, there may be a slight variance in the window molding. Manny Meyrat, customer service representative at Jet Shades,
20 ■ COPA Pilot
MAY 2019