Recognition as an industry expert is always gratifying. But it can have its downside. Accolades for your work in one area can mean your efforts in another are often overlooked.
Since founder Hubert Naimer pioneered flight management systems (FMS) in 1981, Universal Avionics Systems Corp. has developed a highly regarded reputation for avionics retrofit work on fixed-wing platforms.
“We are the retrofit experts,” Grady Dees, director of technical sales, said with pride. “When it comes to adapting to existing sensors and equipment, nobody does it better than Universal.”
However, although the Tucson, Arizona-based company has diversified into electronic flight displays, cockpit voice recorders, flight data recorders, radio control units and other systems, integrating with a range of legacy fixed- and rotary-wing cockpits, it’s that original fixed-wing reputation that persists.
“We know that in the rotorcraft market experience counts,” said Dees. “And that has been one of the challenges for us–we haven’t been known as a rotorcraft provider. We’re working hard to change that.”
In recent years, the company has placed greater focus on the rotary-wing market and Robert Clare, director of business aviation and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sales, believes a series of new programs will spark a fresh industry perception.
Universal’s FMS and navigation systems have been the primary options for Sikorsky’s civil and military S-92 helicopter and an option for the S-76 for a number of years, as well as options on a variety of other makes and models.
But in the spring of 2013, Universal signed a partnership with MD Helicopters to build and design an integrated flight deck for the new MD Explorer and is now also a forward and retrofit fit option for the MD 902 light utility program.
And in October 2015, the company launched new programs with Heli-One of Delta, British Columbia, to upgrade area navigation systems with its multi-mission management system on the Airbus Super Puma and, for one Super Puma fleet customer, integrate Universal’s primary flight displays with the existing automated flight control system.
Years of integrating flight management systems–often the last thing to be retrofitted on an airplane–have taught Universal how to purpose design and build products that work with multiple aircraft.
A one-size-fits-many applications philosophy has permeated every aspect of the hardware and software the company creates. It’s even a message Universal shares with its suppliers.
“Rather than have to change a large percentage of the avionics in the aircraft to update and modernize the cockpit, we are able to do it with a lot of the existing equipment,” said Dees.
“We are very careful in our choice of components and processors to find things that have longevity so customers don’t do an expensive retrofit and then, a few years later when they want to retrofit the rest of their fleet, find that the product is no longer available.”
With each partnership, Universal Avionics is staking new ground. But it’s that attention to the long game that will drive its rotorcraft reputation.
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