COPES refers to any adverse event involving the use of pitot covers on pitot tubes.

When/Where COPES occur

COPES occur when pitot covers remain fitted during two general aircraft operational environments:

1. During Flight Operations (OPS), when one or more pitot covers remain fitted upon takeoff initiation.
2. During various settings with the Aircraft On the Ground (AOG) when one or more pitot covers remain fitted during pitot heat activation.

COPES during OPS result from lack of accurate airspeed indications for flight crew and cause isolated or any combination of Damage to Pitot Tubes, Rejected Takeoff (RTO), Air-Interrupt, Flight/Mission Delay, Incident, Accident, Airport Schedule Disruption, Property Damage, Injury, Fatality.

COPES during AOG occur typically with aircraft that have auto-pitot heat, which include most modern Transport Category aircraft. These COPES are the result of burning or melting of pitot covers causing contamination and/or pitot tube heat failure and are seen during Production, Maintenance and Ground-Repositioning, when power is applied on the flight deck or upon APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) application.

The Cost

The cost of COPES during OPS can be as little as a few minutes delay to remove the pitot tube cover and visually inspect the pitot tube for damage, or exponentially more costly as the COPE can involve a catastrophic outcome. A Whitepaper was published in 2021 regarding the implications of ADS Protection. The Whitepaper includes IATA-based Economic Impact of an RTO or Air-Interrupt on Commercial Long-Haul and Regional Airlines Operations and Large, Midsize and Light Executive Aircraft.

The results of COPES during AOG are rarely catastrophic, but experience and research has shown significant direct materials and indirect costs in terms of time delays in production, maintenance and mission readiness.

The Source of the Problem

Regardless of the general operational environment, all COPES are due to Human Error whereby the pitot cover is left fitted when proper procedure dictates that the cover be removed.

THE SOLUTION

System Safety Engineering (SSE) dictates that system design involve identifying sources of problems and applying principles of engineering to mitigate the adverse outcome of the problem.

In the case of Air Data Systems and COPES, because the source is human error and human error will never be eliminated, the protective system (pitot covers) as it exists will always be vulnerable to failure, unless through SSE, the system provides a fail-safe.

There have been some attempts at developing fail-safes for pitot covers, but none have attained market success until recently. In 2023, after several years of development, utilizing principles of SSE in collaboration with a Major US and other Airline’s Avionics Maintenance Engineering departments, and evaluation by OEM AME and GSE, DeGroff Aviation Technologies LLC launched a Novel Universal-Fit pitot tube cover, the PitotShield V2™ SmartCover™ (PSV2). The innovative PitotShield V2™ SmartCover™ fits nearly all round tube-type pitot probes. And in the case of aircraft with auto pitot heat, as a fail-safe against Human Error, the PSV2 will disengage within two to five minutes of power-up. This new cover is currently in use by Major Airlines, approved by several OEMs and is making its way into the global market, poised to become a New Standard in Air Data System protection.