Joyce Dalton has been growing mohair in the English countryside for more than thirty years. But she’s no ordinary farmer.  Together with business partner Tim Owen, Dalton pioneered a use for mohair that has the potential to save lives.

Working in conjunction with leading specialists in the aviation industry, the pair developed a mohair aviation safety blanket that adheres to the most stringent aviation safety requirements.
  
“I always believed that mohair is not only a fashion fibre, but has tremendous potential to be used in an industrial setting,� says Dalton.

If a plane crashes or lands badly, it takes three minutes to burn through using the current fire blanket material. According to Dalton, she and Owen have perfected a material using mohair and another component that takes in excess, twenty minutes to burn through.

“Mohair is the most suitable fibre to insulate the space between the outer aluminum hull of an aircraft and the passenger capsule,� explains Dalton.  “This area is infiltrated by kilometers of electrical cabling that facilitate the normal functions of the craft - so it requires extreme measures of combustion safety.�

Since establishing their own fabric company –Dalton Lucerne Rare Fabrics Ltd – in 1993, Dalton and Owen have put their fabrics in hotels, private homes, super yachts and finally, aircrafts. Their fabric was even used in the South African president’s private business jet.

In order to meet the stringent aviation regulations regarding fire safety, the company obtained a government grant for research from Bolton University. They were invited to join the Federal Aviation International Fire Safety Group, and it was during one of the group’s meetings that they viewed the crash of a Swiss Air plane off the coast of Canada. The plane had caught on fire and crashed into the sea. Despite having had new wiring installed for the sound system just a few weeks previously, arcing electricity from the wiring had set fire to the fire blanket in the overhead ducts. Clearly, the fire blanket wasn’t as fireproof as first thought. This accident served as the inspiration for Dalton and Owen to create a genuinely fire retardant blanket for use in aviation.

After obtaining a second government grant and conducting further research with Bolton University, the pair finally perfected their mohair fire retardant aviation blanket. Sadly, Tim Owen recently passed away and the development of the product has been temporarily halted.

It is hoped that expertise for the marketing and final completion of the blanket will soon be found to ensure that the product will not go to waste. Dalton is currently searching for a buyer for the business in order for the technology to continue to be developed.  

“There is still a short way to go as far as marketing the product is concerned,� adds Dalton. “It would be a great tragedy to see this opportunity for both aviation safety and mohair being lost.�