It has been an unusually hot summer in Denver, and flying our Cessna T310R out of BJC in the afternoon has become something of an endurance test. On any departure past nine in the morning, the air felt like an oven on broil, leaving me drenched in sweat and eagerly counting down the conga line of flight school planes ahead of me waiting to take off. I am thankful, and reminded of how lucky I am to have my Jet Shades installed.
They have become one of my favorite additions to the 310, and while they do not make a hot airplane cold, they take the edge off the brutal solar heat that comes through the windows. After nearly a year of living with them, I can’t imagine going back to cabin life before Jet Shades.
When I installed the Jet Shades, we had just welcomed our daughter into the world, and my definition of comfort in an airplane instantly changed. It was not just about my wife and me anymore. We had a baby in the back seat, and keeping her comfortable became a much bigger consideration.
Now, nearly a year later, I have flown with Jet Shades through two spring and fall seasons, and a full winter. It is time to look back on that period and reflect on benefits, value, and durability, along with what I learned and what comes next. In the original article, we summed it up as “expensive but worth it.” At a purchase price for our aircraft of $1,499, we still feel that is the case, especially as we invest in the interior refurbishment project.
Installation Revisited
To complete the original install, I used a large roll of brown paper—the kind sold for taping onto the floor before painting—and traced the windows. This gave me a fairly accurate shape that I could trace onto the Jet Shades cutout before trimming to fit. I then traced the outline with a wax pencil, cut with sharp scissors, and slid the shades directly behind the trim, sitting firmly against the window.
The fit looked great, and it was tight enough that my daughter could not pull it loose from her window, but that same tight fit made the shade extremely difficult for me to remove. At night the rear cabin felt uncomfortably dark for passengers, and I needed an easier option for flying after dark to keep my family comfortable.
So I went back and modified the installation. I pulled the shades back out, made a few small trims, installed the rubber lining around the edges, added the clips to the trim around the windows, and reinstalled the shades. The work took very little time and, in my estimation, improved both the look and the utility of the product. All of the hardware needed to do this was included with the original purchase; I simply had elected not to use it the first time around. The only task I have left is convincing my one-year-old daughter that the Jet Shade in her window is not a toy.
The goal was the ability to remove the shades easily when needed, particularly for night flying. Even though I tested the shades at night during the initial review and found that removing the flight deck Jet Shades was sufficient for safe operation of the aircraft, the rear panels needed to come out too before the cabin was comfortable for passengers.
The fit adjustment itself was minor, taking less than an hour for three windows, and I am glad I made the change. For anyone installing these on their own aircraft, my recommendation is to do it this way rather than sliding the material behind the trim panels for a tight fit against the window.
Cabin Temperature and UV Rays
After a year with Jet Shades installed, I can honestly say I could not imagine going back to flying without them. The cabin holds temperature better and is, in general, more comfortable, and it does not heat up as quickly when the airplane sits in the sun. The hot-and-cold zone imbalance I described in the original piece, worse on the sunny side of the cabin, has also stayed resolved over the full year rather than being a one-flight impression. That said, this is by no means a substitute for air conditioning, and I want to be careful not to conflate the two.
As one reader, Justin Graff, commented on our original review, “If you are going to get air conditioning, get Jet Shades too. If you already have it, get them. If you don’t have air conditioning, add them.” That comment is part of why we plan to test the two together; more on that below.
The claim of near-total blockage of harmful solar energy seems to hold up, though it is difficult for me to test directly. I have not been sunburned while flying since installing the shades, and my family is more comfortable overall. My biannual dermatology appointments have turned up no anomalies either. This could be a coincidence, but I will be the first to admit I am terrible about using sunscreen while flying.
Jet Shades also claims reduced eye strain and fatigue. Sitting up front with the shades installed, along with my Rosen visors, I rarely need sunglasses. While I cannot definitively say that fatigue has declined since the installation, the experience is much more pleasant for my eyes. An additional plus: the reflective exterior of the shades gives the airplane a sharp look from the outside and keeps wandering eyes from seeing what is inside the cabin.
Durability and Interiors
We typically keep the airplane hangared, which helps considerably, but there are always stretches when that is not possible. Over the past year the airplane spent a month on the ramp in Florida, a month in New Orleans, and at AirVenture 2026 it sat in the North 40 for five days— plenty of direct sun exposure in every case. There has been zero delamination or degrading of the material. The issues I documented with the first-generation panels, warping and bubbling in extreme heat, have not reappeared on this second-generation set.
That same protection extends to the interior. As we continue our interior refurbishment series, I am glad to have Jet Shades installed. With direct sunlight kept off the cabin, I feel considerably better about investing further in the interior, knowing it will be protected when the airplane is parked outside.
Fit and Price
If there is one thing prospective buyers should know, it is that Jet Shades is not necessarily a drop-in installation. The panels arrive precut for the aircraft model, but individual airframes can vary enough that some trimming is required.
That held true a year ago on our own T310R, and it held true again when I later reworked the install to add the rubber lining and clips. Other owners report the same pattern regardless of aircraft type: Some airframes need only light trimming, others need a paper template built from scratch before the panels come close to fitting. Jet Shades ships the panels precut to a general shape for each model, and budgeting time for that step avoids the frustration of expecting a perfect out-of-the-box fit.
At $1,499 for our T310R, Jet Shades are not cheap, and the installation takes real effort to get right.
And, perhaps most importantly for our family, they make the airplane a more comfortable place for our daughter to spend time. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? We believe it is.
Looking Ahead to Air Conditioning
We are now in the process of adding air conditioning to the airplane, currently surveying the market of portable systems. We are interested to see how Jet Shades aid in the performance of an air conditioning unit and look forward to reporting on it.
In the video, the closed-captioning says $14.99. I thought *Wow, that can’t be correct!* and it looks like I was right.
Look nice and fit good. I was expecting bubbles under them, like every time I try to fit a screen saver on my iPhone.