DESIGNS FOR THE JET SET.(Technology Information)

Manufacturer creates custom interiors for luxury aircraft

For the rich and famous who purchase their own private jets, outfitting these ultimate status symbols with off-the-shelf "coach-class" cabin furnishings is out of the question. "They may spend $60 million for the plane and another $20 million for the interior," says Michael Berdan, engineering manager at Jerry Fain Models, which provides prototyping and machining services for the aerospace, marine, and automotive industries. "Everything inside the planes is a custom-made piece of art--from the mother-of-pearl countertops to the intricate sconce lights." It's for these discriminating tastes that the engineers at Jerry Fain Models produce customized interior fittings, brackets, and trim for luxury airplanes.

Jerry Fain Models in Bedford, Texas, is hired by private jet manufacturers such as Raytheon, Gulfstream, and Bombardier Aerospace, and the artists and designers who craft airplane interiors for celebrities, heads of state, and major corporations. Among the components the company creates are bathroom, wall, and light fixtures; fittings and brackets for various types of artwork (vases, paintings, sculptures, etchings); edging for counters and cabinets; dance floors; and table inlays.

Finishing a room in a jet--whether it's a bathroom or bedroom--is far different from finishing a room in a home. Any object or furnishing that is hung, displayed, or mounted in the aircraft must meet FAA regulations pertaining to G-force standards, to ensure that it remains secured during turbulence or a hard landing. However, within this rigid engineering environment, it's not enough to meet manufacturing tolerances. "The product has to be structurally safe, and at the same time, it must look elegant," Berdan says. "The metal has to match and support the object snugly, so it doesn't vibrate or shake while the plane is in the air. To accomplish this, our measurements have to be within one-thousandth of an inch, and the only way to do that is with digital technology."

A glimpse inside a private jet would reveal bedrooms with beautiful glass lighting fixtures along the ceiling or up the walls, bathroom sinks and showers with intricately designed water fittings, fiber-optic lighting, and conference rooms containing glassblown lamps, custom-built art frames, and handmade cabinets. In a luxury jet, even items that appear rather simple, such as cabinet trim, are actually complex. "The cabinets, for instance, are rarely square, and generally there's no digital data available for them. So we have to reverse engineer the counters in order to build the gold trim that fits along them" notes Berdan. "We are working with artists and artisans, and they tend to design things with elaborate lines that are extremely beautiful. But for a 50-pound glass vase, we'd have to design the fittings to hold 16 times that weight, to meet FAA regulations. And the trim still has to be elegant, thin, and flexible."

Some of the objects that pose the most difficulty for the engineers are found in the bathrooms. In particular, the shower doors are quite demanding, since they have three-dimensional contours that the group must bend into shape and then match that shape for the trim. "The glass, which might have gold inlay, could cost $20,000," states Berdan. "If we break it, it's a costly error, and we have to start all over. So we have to be positively accurate with our measurements. In the end, the item has to be aesthetically pleasing to the customer, and it has to function as intended."

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