Airplane Plastics

Airplane Plastics is a custom plastic forming company in Tipp City, Ohio. It makes canopies and windows, mostly for experimental aircraft. It forms sheet goods such as acrylic, polycarbonate, ABS, Sintra, Corian and 3-Form. The site says it works on parts that are technically difficult to form.

The company began as part of The Airplane Factory. The site says Jeff Rogers was its first paid employee. Rogers was offered 1,000 dollars if he could form a T-18 canopy with perfect optics. After months of trial and error, he did. The business was later renamed The Airplane Plastics Co., a division of Fox Lite Inc.

In 1998, Jeff Rogers and his wife Becky bought the assets of that division. They named the company Airplane Plastics. Becky Rogers had helped at the Oshkosh booth for 16 years before joining as partner and office manager. The site says the business has grown with help from its employees, family and friends.

The site names several canopy customers. These include Van's Aircraft, Rutan, Kimball Enterprises, Ezell Aviation, Zivko Aeronautics, Aviat, Steen Aero, Mustang Aero, Rans, Stewart 51 and Questair LLC. It says parts are in museums such as the Smithsonian, the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum and the U.S.S. Midway.

The company has also made car, boat and motorcycle windshields, aquariums, skylights, visors and simulator screens. The site says it made windows that were coated for use as projection screens in an amusement park train.

The site says Airplane Plastics was one of 119 suppliers to receive the Gold Level Boeing Performance Excellence Award in 2014.

The office is at 9785 Julie Court in Tipp City. The phone number is 937-669-2677. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and visits are by appointment only. The site has a gallery, an FAQ page and a Facebook page.