Sabreliner Expands Midcoast Aviation And Adds Capability at Premier Turbines

Midcoast Aviation has finished a $2.9 million expansion at its St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport facility that has added 31,000 sq. ft. to its modifications center, increasing total floor space to 112,000 sq. ft.

The expansion doubles the space devoted to the cabinet and upholstery shops and stockroom, adds machine shop space, and 10% more space for engineering, production and sales/marketing.

"Cabinet and upholstery skills are especially needed today," said Gary Driggers, Midcoast executive vice president and COO. "By expanding at this level we're able to address future requirements without sacrificing the quality of our work."

Since the 1994 acquisition of Midcoast Aviation by Sabreliner, the St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport operations have grown from 165,000 square feet to 322,000 square feet.

This past year has also seen Midcoast add a number of STCs to its list of avionics certification, including installations of the following systems: Honeywell's Mark V EGPWS in GIV aircraft (which takes about two weeks to install, according to Joe Allen, Gulfstream program manager at Midcoast); Honeywell's AIS-1000 OneView airborne information system on the Challenger 604; and Goodrich's GH-3000 electronic standby instrument system for the Challenger 604.

Midcoast has installed some 20 SATCOMS in the last two years-a dramatic increase over the three installed in the entire seven years before. It has also completed the first-ever dual Aero H+ SATCOM installation in a pair of business jets.

Midcoast Aviation now claims to be one of the leading shops in the U.S. for avionics.

It also recently installed the new Collins Heads Up Guidance System on two Challenger 604s.