Disinfectant Wipes and Avionics

SoCal 182 Driver

SoCal 182 Driver

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SoCal 182 Driver
Friends - I'm in the middle of IFR training in my plane. In this era of COVID-19, if my instructor were to want to wipe down my yoke, PTT button, radios, etc. with some sort of disinfecting wipe, which brands and/or chemical compositions are safe for radios, touch screens, etc.?

Thanks!
 
SoCal 182 Driver said:
Friends - I'm in the middle of IFR training in my plane. In this era of COVID-19, if my instructor were to want to wipe down my yoke, PTT button, radios, etc. with some sort of disinfecting wipe, which brands and/or chemical compositions are safe for radios, touch screens, etc.?

Thanks!
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Definitely not the stuff created by a former alcohol distillery. If you read the article provided by AOPA, that can damage your panel and instruments.

But also keep in mind heat and exposure to sunlight significantly shortens the viability of the virus to a very short time.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Definitely not the stuff created by a former alcohol distillery. If you read the article provided by AOPA, that can damage your panel and instruments.
Click to expand...

That article is what prompted the question. I had hoped AOPA would have included a paragraph on what kinds of wipes were OK, but there was no information. Thus, my question.
 
What does your avionics manufacturer suggest for cleaning? If soap and water gets it off your hands...
 
I keep alcohol wipes - those little squares used to wipe your skin before an injection or blood draw - for thinks that aren’t affected or can easily be replaced....like door handles, plastic PTT switches ( copilot PTT is one of those portables), yokes, brake lever, air vents, buttons, etc. I would never use anything other that optical glasses cleaner on avionic face plates but the buttons? Sure. But on the other hand, I always remind people not to touch without permission.

Having flown young eagles for years, I always had a bunch of the wipes to clean the headset mic and ear muffs in between kids. Other pilots thought I was crazy...guess I wasn’t afterall.
 
Stay away from products containing chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Bleach will quickly create a permanent haze on many electronic displays found in aircraft. Also ammonia glass cleaners. They will delaminate keypads. Whatever you use, wring excess liquid out and gently wipe surfaces.

Most disinfectant wipes state that a given surface must remain wetted by the product for a certain period of time (2 or 3 minutes) in order to be completely effective. So realistically, most "wiping" being done is only lip-service anyway. After 15 years of trying to educate my coworkers on cleaning and disinfecting digital radiography equipment, I'm convinced that most of the "disinfecting" that IS actually accomplished is not really anywhere near the advertised effectiveness of the product being used. And, is done so mostly by the act of wiping off surface contaminates, not by the active ingredient of the cleaning agent.
 
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A dilute solution of detergent (e.g. dishwashing liquid) and water will be as effective as anything in cleaning surfaces, and will be harmless to almost any material: glass, plastic, or metal. It's not necessary to sterilize the environment, only to greatly reduce the potential infectious load. High concentrations of alcohol are actually less effective at sterilizing surfaces than 60-70% concentrations in water. The trouble with alcohols (depending on which one: ethyl or isopropyl, and what concentration) is that they can remove plasticizers from plastics and coatings from certain materials, causing structural or cosmetic damage. Detergents work by disrupting the lipid membranes and proper protein folding in bacteria and viruses.

We never used alcohols to clean anything in the microbiology lab, plastic or otherwise, We used a 1% solution of detergent to clean glass and plasticware, and to wipe down lab benches. If you want it completely sterile, it had to go in an autoclave at 250F for 20 minutes, or placed in a flame and heated to glowing red.
 
Tell him to wear gloves and not touch his face. No way I'd let someone start wiping down my panel. Sunlight breaks down corona. Even on hard surfaces, it's viability is a few days at best. I'd be more worried about his respiratory droplets than some virus that may be on a knob.
 
Why don't you save yourself all this grief and buy a box of nitrile gloves for the CFII?
 
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