Hubbard Aviation Technologies has made a major commitment to its Stage III-certified QS3 hush-kit program for the Gulfstream II/II-SP/IIB/III. The program was originally launched by Stage III Technologies, which received an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) in December 2003 for the modification but went out of business in February 2008. Hubbard Aviation founder Stanley Hubbard owns the first Gulfstream II modified with the QS3 hush kit and bought the assets of Stage III Technologies.
Stage III contracted with 10 vendors to manufacture all the components for the hush kit, but now Hubbard Aviation is working with a single vendor, Aeroshear Aviation Services, a Van Nuys, Calif. manufacturing company and FAA-approved repair station. Hubbard Aviation has contracted for Aeroshear to build components for six hush kits and order materials for an additional six kits. Aeroshear will do the first few installations at its Van Nuys maintenance facility, then Hubbard will authorize other installation centers. The kit is expected to sell for $1.5 million, and installation should take about four weeks and around 1,000 labor hours, mainly because there isn’t room in the back of a Gulfstream for many people to work at the same time.
More In Maintenance and Modifications
