In Part 1 we talked mostly about the superb craftmanship that goes into each and every SkyCart™. This time let’s take a closer look at the unbelievably tough design.
The SkyCart™ is designed for use as a galley cart on commercial airliners. This is a very heavily regulated industry. Everything that belongs to an airliner has to undergo strict design and manufacturing quality reviews by the aviation authorities.
Every airline trolley has to be designed and built following strict rules. In the United States a TSO (Technical Standard Order) approval is needed. FAA TSO-175 is applicable in the US, in the EU the EASA equivalent is ETSO-175. Other countries have their own versions.
If you like to read these kind of documents, this is a link to the original FAA TSO.
The FAA TSO is based on an SAE document, SAE AS 8056. This one specifies, among other details, the “crashworthiness” requirements. In the case of our SkyCart™, it is tested for vertical loads of +/- 10.05 g and sideways for 9.05 g.
In other words, the SkyCart™ (which is certified for 132 lb loaded weight) can withstand a load of 1,320 lb. Quite impressive! Not enough to really withstand the weight of a fully grown elephant, but still quite impressive.