MD Helicopters’ selection of Selection of Universal Avionics to design and build a next-generation flight deck for the MD Explorer twin-engine helicopter represents a major milestone in the avionics maker’s 32-year history–the company’s first integrated flight deck to be delivered as original equipment from an OEM’s aircraft assembly line–but Universal’s main revenue source will continue to be retrofitting the flight decks of business aircraft, helicopters and airliners.
“Our bread and butter is retrofit, although we do a fair amount of [individual displays delivered via] OEM as well,” said Steve Pagnucco, general manager of manufacturing at Universal’s sole manufacturing plant, located in Tucson, Ariz. “We work closely with the customer on all integration issues. It’s engineering-intensive because every application is different…everybody’s aircraft has different avionics and systems in it. That’s what we do better than anybody else: figure out all those [integration] challenges.”
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