Avionics News April 2013 - 31

Photo courtesy of Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics

adapted to technology’s new digital
environment. One of the most common
has been to expand their services to
a related skill shed by many avionics
shops, bench repairs. Most avionics
shops have not suffered too seriously
in this transition, because they are
now busily transforming the analogequipped fleet to digital technology.
But they should carefully consider the
adaption strategy of instrument shops,
because where they are now is where
avionics shops will be in the coming
decades.
Aviation has flirted with the transition to glass for nearly 40 years,
according to Dave Vorsas, president
of Triumph Instruments, established
in 1985, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But
before it could really take hold, “the
market takes a dive and the volume of
new aircraft declines,” Vorsas said. In
the second century of powered flight,
the convergence of the computer,
cellphone and GPS industries has
shared the research and development
costs, giving life to digital products
original equipment manufacturers can
afford as standard equipment and aftermarket shops can retrofit.
In other words, the market is
shrinking on several fronts. New airplanes have glass cockpits, and old
airplanes are trading in their steam
gauges for them. But for the foreseeable future, there will be a demand
for repairs of analog instruments and
avionics.
Contrary to hearsay, it is not getting harder to repair and maintain
this equipment, according to Vorsas.
“Adjusting for inflation, it doesn’t
cost more to overhaul an analog
gauge now than it did when glass
became standard equipment on new
airplanes,” Vorsas said.
As it is in any technical field, tech-

At most instrument shops, technician tenure averages 10 years or more. At work in
its Wichita, Kan., gyro lab, Kha Nguyen has worked at Mid-Continent Instruments and
Avionics for 29 years.

nician skill and knowledge is an essential resource.
“A lot of the people nearing retirement were here at the beginning or one
generation away from the beginning,”
Vorsas said. Schools no longer teach
analog instrument repair, so the veterans must educate the next generation
on the job. This assumes that companies can find interested candidates. “As
a viable long-term career path, there’s
not an attraction for young people to
get into the analog repair industry,”
Vorsas said.
In any evolving market, Vorsas con-

cluded, “demand contracts at a much
faster rate than the supply.” Eventually,
economic attrition balances the number
of vendors who support the customer
base, and the survivors are those who
adapt to the new environment by diversifying into new but related markets
and/or products and services.
From its founding in 1982, Pacific
Southwest Instruments of Corona, Calif., has focused on instrument and avionics repair. As it matured, it expanded
into air transport, helicopter, corporate,
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Avionics News April 2013

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