Avionics News March 2014 - 84

MEET THE NOMINEES

work. He was quickly introduced to
the Gulfstream 2/3, Westwind, Falcon
20/5, Jetstar, Hawker 700 and BAC
1-11s of the aviation world. New technologies like Loran and VLF Omega
were the "hot" installs at the time.
During the 1990s, Wilson supported a
flight department in Fort Lauderdale
that grew from three fixed-wing aircraft to 12 fixed- and rotary-winged
aircraft in five short years. He enjoyed
this time tremendously since he worked
with a great group of people. In fact,
the "big boss" owned the Dolphins,
Marlins and the Panthers professional
sports organizations, so he often was
flying with famous athletes.
During this time, Wilson and
his wife, Jamie, had two children,
Brandon and Brittani. Due to the long
work hours and congestion of the

Continued from page 83

about avionics. Upon graduating from
high school, Wilson was sent to training in Millington, Tenn. During the
first five weeks, he was tasked to learn
the basic electrical and electronic
theory. One of the tests included a
schematic along with a battery, switch,
relay, wiring and a light bulb. Once
Wilson correctly designed the circuit
and the light bulb lit up, he was hooked
on avionics.
Wilson served seven years in the
U.S. Navy where he worked on the
aircraft systems and repaired the black
boxes. After his service, in 1986,
Wilson and his wife moved to South
Florida where he was hired by Walkers
Aviation to work on aircraft and bench

city, Wilson and his family moved to
Jupiter, Fla., and he took an avionics supervisor position at Jet Aviation
in West Palm Beach. One year later,
Wilson accepted the avionics manager
position.
In 2001, Wilson attended his first
AEA Convention in Dallas, Texas.
Wilson was amazed at everything the
convention offered - training, exhibits,
products and networking. He hasn't
missed an AEA Convention since.
Wilson was elected to the AEA
board of directors in 2013. Currently,
he is the director of avionics at Banyan
Air Service in Fort Lauderdale. When
Wilson isn't working, he enjoys time
with his family, running in local 5k
races, traveling and riding his ATV.

2014 AEA Associate Member of
the Year Nominees
Astronics AES
Astronics AES' aviation legacy
dates back to 1958, when the Electric
Service Company began building missile test sets for Boeing. In the 1960s,
the company expanded its product
offerings to include ruggedized computer power supplies, windshield

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temperature controllers and voltage
detectors. In the 1970s, it added weapons release test sets for the F-111 and
F-16 and aural warning systems, passenger address amplifiers and ground
fault systems, followed by growth into
system-level power products and test
equipment for military and commercial transport aircraft.
By the 1990s, the renamed Astronics
company, which was located in
Redmond, Wash., was building cabin
phone systems for AT&T, power systems for missiles and one of the industry's first in-seat power systems, called

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Avionics News March 2014

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