Avionics News March 2014 - 81

2014 AEA Member of the Year,
AEA Associate Member of the Year

school as a technical instructor and
taught the Radio Relay School at
Kessler Air Force Base during his
four years in the U.S. Air Force. After
his discharge from the Air Force,
Hainsworth began working for Litton
Amecom in College Park, Md., to
provide technical training for military
contracts - including the U.S. Navy
DD963 Destroyer Communications
Suite, U.S. Navy E2C Hawkeye
Emitter Detection System and the
U.S. Army Portable Loran.
In 1980, desiring to live a more rural
life, Hainsworth and his family moved
back to Kansas where Hainsworth
began working for Litton Aero
Products as a field engineer to support
installs and certification of INS, IRS,
Omega and GPS systems. He provided
engineering and flight test support to
the manufacturers in Wichita, which
included Cessna, Beechcraft, Learjet
and Boeing. He also provided support
to several commercial airlines throughout the world. His responsibilities
included support engineering, installations and flight tests on private, commercial and government aircraft. He
flew everything from B747s, including
Air Force One, to Cessna 172s.
Hainsworth left Litton in 1996, and
began working for Universal Avionics
Systems Corp. as a product specialist
in Universal's Wichita office. In 2003,
Hainsworth started a new chapter in
his career and began his first avionics
sales manager position with JetCorp

in Chesterfield, Mo. He enjoyed the
sales side and quickly learned about all
the other avionics products by attending AEA International Conventions
and AEA Regional Meetings. In 2005,
Hainsworth began working for Bizjet
International in Tulsa, Okla.
Currently, Hainsworth is working
for Gulfstream Aerospace Service
Center in Dallas as a senior internal
sales manager. His responsibilities
include supporting the field sales
team, consulting with operators,
preparing quotes for presentation to
customers on Gulfstreams, as well as
other aircraft scheduled for avionics
installs and upgrades.
Hainsworth and his wife, Mary
Ann, have been married 45 years.
They own a 30-acre farm in the
Wichita area. They established the
Rescued Hearts Animal Shelter on
the farm, which at times has held up
to 65 rescued dogs. The main focus is
to take injured, handicapped or older
dogs that are more difficult to place.

Michael Kus

Avionics 2000 Pty. Ltd.
Michael J. Kus is the founder and
director of Avionics
2000 Pty Ltd., based in
Melbourne, Australia.
Since its conception
in 1988, the company
has grown and diversified to its presentday status as a full-service provider,

including avionics, aircraft operation
and airframe engine. This expansion
has elevated Avionics 2000 to what is
now, arguably, the largest privatelyowned avionics equipment retailer
and maintenance provider for general
aviation aircraft in Australia. Kus is
proud to have pioneered his company
as the first in Australia to fit and certify

A wa r d r e c i p i e n t s w i l l b e
a n n o u n c e d Fr i d ay, Ma r c h
14 , 2 014 , a t t h e a n n u a l
A E A A wa r d s L u n c h e o n i n
Na s h v i l l e , Te n n .

TCAS in a business aviation environment (September 1999), and the first to
obtain aircraft certification for primary
means oceanic navigation using GPS
(November 1999).
Prior to starting Avionics 2000,
Kus served six years with the Victoria
Police Force, Police Air Wing. He
became a licensed aircraft maintenance
engineer (LAME) in 1986 while serving with the police and is credited for
orchestrating the avionics plan for its
air ambulance service in 1985. His
passion for aviation was launched
in 1976, when he joined the Royal
Australian Navy. He received avionics technician apprenticeship training
Continued on following page
avionics news

march

2014

Avionics News March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News March 2014