Paraclete Aviation Life Support, the manufacturer of aviation life support equipment (ALSE), has promoted Anthony Economos to president of the company. The announcement was made during AMTC22 Elevated on Oct. 25, the annual trade show for the air medical sector.
Originally one of the co-founders of the eight-year-old producer of aviation helmets, along with former president Scott Hedges, Economos has held the role of vice president since Paraclete began.
He brings more than a decade of aviation medical experience, having previously worked as an executive with Censis Technologies. Hedges will now assume the position of vice president of product development.
During a press conference at AMTC22, Economos highlighted details of his future plans, as well as recent company upgrades.
“Paraclete is the only manufacturer that focuses solely on helmets, and we want to provide safety and innovation to our clients,” Economos said.
He remarked that because of the success that the company has seen over the past two years — particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic which proved to be Paraclete’s most successful year yet — there is a current backorder of six months for helmet orders.
To address the backlog, this past summer, Paraclete opened a new production location in its hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, which is 84% larger than its previous factory.
“By the end of January 2023, we hope to have our backlog down to three weeks,” Economos said.
Paraclete also operates three of its own composite manufacturing facilities, further streamlining the assembly process.
Economos discussed global expansion, pointing out the recent opening of service centers in Brazil, South Korea, and Germany. He expressed the importance of helmet certification standards to the products Paraclete is turning out, including MIL-SPEC and DOI/USFS (Department of the Interior-United States Forest Service) standards.
“We push our products beyond the current specifications,” Economos said. “We do this because it is what our customers want and need. We change the narrative on product development based on customer feedback.”
New products are on the horizon, which Economos hinted at as being helmet and communications accessory related. If operations continue to improve, these items may debut in time for HAI Heli-Expo in March 2023.
“The end-user experience is important to us, and we will continue to provide products that are innovative and meet or exceed the highest standards in the industry,” he said.
