Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

In AIN’s Product Support Survey this year, readers rated manufacturers of both cockpit and cabin electronics, and Garmin remains at the top for cockpit avionics, with an overall average of 8.3. In the cabin electronics arena, Satcom Direct tops the charts again, climbing to 8.5, the highest overall average rating for any company in the avionics survey.
The cockpit rankings nearly mirror last year’s results, with Rockwell Collins in second place, climbing 0.1 this year to 8.1, followed by Universal Avionics in third place, down 0.1 to 7.8.
Honeywell and its BendixKing unit tie for fourth place this year, with a 7.4 rating.
Garmin’s top ratings are overall product reliability (8.8), parts availability (8.7), cost of parts (7.3), warranty fulfillment (8.5) and technical reps (8.4).
Rockwell Collins scores highest in the AOG response category with an 8.1, while BendixKing’s technical manuals receive top marks (8.3), as do its technical reps (tied with Garmin at 8.4).
Among the cabin electronics companies that AIN readers rated, Satcom Direct’s first-place rating climbs to 8.5 from 8.3 last year. Readers laud the company for parts availability (8.6), cost of parts (7.9), AOG response (9.0), warranty fulfillment (8.7), technical reps (8.9) and overall product reliability (8.8).
Gogo Business Aviation, tied for first place last year with Satcom Direct, drops slightly by 0.1 to 8.2 for second place this year. The company rates highest for technical manuals (8.2).
In third place this year at 7.9 are Gulfstream Cabin Management and Honeywell.
Rockwell Collins sees a 0.4 drop this year to 7.5 from 7.9 last year, putting it in fourth place, down from last year’s second place.
Aircraft Cabin Systems also sees a decline this year, to 7.2 from 7.8. Lufthansa Technik, manufacturer of the Nice inflight entertainment system, receives a 6.7 overall average rating.

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