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Gulf Coast Avionics celebrates 25th anniversary

By Janice Wood · April 6, 2010 ·

Gulf Coast Avionics President Rick Garcia with his Piper Seneca V in front of the company's LAL hangar.
Gulf Coast Avionics President Rick Garcia with his Piper Seneca V in front of the company's LAL hangar.

Gulf Coast Avionics, headquartered at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) in Florida, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The company, which opened as a two-man office in Tampa, Florida, has gone through a “remarkable 25-year period of continuous growth, expansion and recognition as a true one-stop shop for avionics, instruments, and pilot supplies,” according to company officials.

“The past 25 years have seen an amazing transformation of the company from where we started to where we are today,” said Rick Garcia, founder and president. “One of the most significant milestones was our move to Lakeland in 1999 and construction of the 29,000-square-foot facility that we now occupy. This custom-built structure provided the space we needed for expanding our services and capabilities to the levels demanded by our domestic and international customer base.”

From its current location on LAL, which is also home to the annual Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In, Gulf Coast Avionics has become an authorized distributor of most major brands of avionics products and maintains a comprehensive inventory of avionics, instruments and pilot supplies from which they regularly fill orders on a world-wide basis. In addition to Catalog Retail Sales, Gulf Coast Avionics also sells products online. In addition, the lobby of the Lakeland facility houses an interactive display of the latest avionics products where customers can get hands-on experience with the latest technology, company officials said.

Beyond direct sales, Gulf Coast Avionics has developed a recognition within the aircraft industry through a growing number of avionics installs and custom panel upgrades, which it has performed on everything from kit planes to warbirds to business jets. “We are now able to offer custom panel design and install to a wide variety of aircraft owners and operators,” Garcia noted.

For more information: 800-474-9714 or GCA.aero.

About Janice Wood

Janice Wood is editor of General Aviation News.

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