Steecon Enterprises (Booth No. 1061) recently announced availability of its Star Trak “pocket” doors for the Dassault Falcon Jet 900/900EX following a ruling by the FAA to allow owners of these aircraft to install doors in partitions between passenger compartments.

The FAA ruling effectively granted an exemption from FAR 25.813, which prevents the installation of doors between passenger compartments. The action adds the Falcon 900/900EX to the list of business aircraft that already have similar exemptions, including the Falcon 2000; Gulfstream II, III, IV, IV-SP and V; and Bombardier’s Challenger series and Global Express. Doors installed in any of these aircraft under exemption must meet a list of limitations, including the ability to withstand a sudden decrease in cabin pressure without detaching.

According to Sean Froelich, director of sales and marketing for Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Steecon, the company’s line of Star Trak pocket doors meets all FAA requirements under the exemptions. “Our pocket doors require fewer mechanisms and use lighter materials than other doors on the market,” Froelich said. Steecon’s pocket doors use patented extensible hinges that allow the door segments to rotate out of their sliding plane if decompression should occur when the doors are in their closed position. When stowed, the doors slide into pockets in the bulkhead. According to Froelich, this allows for greater flexibility in aircraft interior design.

“Every pocket door unit is custom made to fit the needs and design of the client, even our so-called ‘standard’ line,” Froelich said. “We work directly with the client’s interior designer, who often comes up with designs that look great on paper but are very difficult to achieve in reality. However, at Steecon, we make the impossible possible.”

Froelich noted that the company recently completed a BBJ project that used a new pocket table design. Mechanically similar to the pocket door, the retractable five-foot-long table automatically slides into a large cabinet, leaving no trace.

“We have another table design that turns into a desk,” said Froelich, “but this was the first time we had a need for a table that disappeared like our pocket doors.”

The Steecon pocket doors can be installed and removed without removing major elements of the interior. Steecon has designed the doors to be installed through fasteners accessible from the aisle side of the aircraft interior. The company’s pocket doors can be installed in any FAR 25.813-exempt aircraft regardless of whether the aircraft interior has a curved or flat headliner, said a spokesman.