industry NEW ENERGY IN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY S T O R Y True Blue Power lithium-ion technology catches on 44 avionics news * december 2015 T B Y D A V E H I G D O N odd Winter smiled as he worked his way through the buffet line at a recent meeting of the Wichita Aero Club. Owner and president of Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics had good reason - and it wasn't the lunch menu or the speaker soon to take the podium. Winter smiled because his Wichita-based company had recently achieved a milestone: supplemental type certificate-approval for the True Blue Power TB17 Nanophosphate Lithium-ion battery for use as the main-ship battery for Beechcraft A36 Bonanzas, in production for 35 years. True Blue Power is a division of Mid-Continent Instrument Company, and earning the approval in the Part 23 aircraft added thousands of potential customers flying the 24-volt models, according to Winter. It represents a potential "tipping point" for landing a broader approved model list STC covering most, if not all, aircraft sporting the same kind of electrical system. And in addition to noting True Blue Power's first Part 23 success for the new battery line, Winter noted Mid-Continent's then-unannounced STC approval for the larger TB44 battery in 100-, 200- and 300-series de