We just received notification that the Federal Aviation Administration has nominated Spirit Avionics for the prestigious Best of the Best Small Business of the Year award for 2010. Our nomination is a direct result of our proven efficiency, expertise and commitment on the King Air B300 Flight Inspection Fleet’s interior enhancement upgrade program.

This was a very welcome surprise and we are all very humbled and honored to receive this nomination.

This year we will be exhibiting in our largest space ever. We’ve secured a 20×20 island space and we’ll be exhibiting with our MX Solutions Plus partners. If you’d like to stop in, please do so. If you’d like to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our staff, please call us or email us via the contact info on our Contact Us page. We will not have any demo equipment this year, but rather will be focused on learning about you and your unique needs and requirements and how we can help you with those.

We’re looking forward to meeting you and seeing a great turnout at our industry’s largest convention this year.

If you are currently in need of support on a potential avionics upgrade, or other avionics support, please give our friendly and knowledgeable staff a call or email today. We are always ready and willing to help you with any avionics need you may have. We are authorized dealers for all major brands of avionics including Honeywell Avionics, Bendix-King, Rockwell Collins, Universal Avionics, L-3, Garmin, Avidyne, Sandel, Chelton, Aircell, True North Avionics, ICG, IS&S, S-Tec, Century and many, many more. It makes no difference to us if you are looking for an upgrade today, tomorrow, or budgeting for next year. We are willing to help.

We specialize in all types of avionics upgrades, avionics service and parts logistics support. To us, avionics are avionics – it truly makes no difference what type of metal surrounds them. Our capabilities are posted on our website for all to see. We are authorized to work on and modify/upgrade everything from a Cessna 150 all the way up to, and including, Challenger CRJ and Boeing BBJ and everything in between. There is no avionics upgrade that we cannot perform to meet or exceed your expectations. And since customer service is #1 on our list, you will always feel like you are our most important client – because you are most important to us.

So come to Spirit Avionics and get the high level, customized experience you’ve been missing out on. Our long list of current and recent clients includes many Fortune 500/100 corporate flight departments, US and international government agencies and a wide variety of owner/operators. Call us today. We’re waiting for you. What are you waiting for?

During the past couple of months we have noticed an increase in interested parties looking for pricing and general info for avionics upgrades. We’ve seen interest in everything from Radar, Multi-function displays (MFD), EFIS, 406 MHz ELT, GPS, FMS and Phone/Internet. The vast majority of interest goes to WAAS FMS and Phone/Internet upgrades. These are the newest technology that allow us to either arrive at our destination more efficiently (WAAS FMS) or stay connected to our business while in flight (Phone/Internet). There are many options available for both. To install one of these systems as new you should know that there may be STC work to be performed which could increase the project’s cost and timing in some cases.

As for WAAS FMS you’re most likely upgrading your current FMS. If you have an system that is eligible for an upgrade then chances are better that you can either perform the upgrade via a service bulletin or follow an approved upgrade path and not have to do STC work – but that’s on a case by case basis. Honeywell and Rockwell Collins are both starting to offer software and hardware upgrades to allow WAAS LPV navigation. With Universal Avionics there are certain, very clear upgrade paths that you can follow and possibly avoid any STC charges and delays as well. Universal Avionics is offering substantial trade in credits on some legacy Flight Management Systems. This could offer an operator a great upgrade that will pay for itself in a few years in saved fuel and maintenance. We have a return on investment calculator that can show you how much money WAAS FMS pays back annually based on your aircraft data-NOT stock data. We can help you with that. 

As for the Phone/Internet upgrades there is still a lot of grey area with how these upgrades will be seen in the eyes of the FAA and some uncertainty in the cost associated with certification in addition to the actual upgrade itself. There are some OEM’s out there that really offer an exceptional product but offer no support on the certification process. There are other OEM’s out there who put forth a great effort to help in the certification process, or handle it for us because of their proficiency at it. So with that being said, if you are looking for pricing on a phone/internet upgrade, beware of the sticker shock, but don’t let the overall cost be a deterrent. It seems like a lot of money to spend to perform this upgrade, but if a company employee or principal capitalizes upon an opportunity that happened while in flight, or avoided a catastrophe of some kind while in flight, because they were connected in flight; that is invaluable. We can help with that as well. 

Spirit Avionics is an authorized dealer for all major avionics OEM’s. See our complete list of dealerships at our website. http://www.spiritavionics.com/expertise/affiliations.php