Kings Avionics performs avionics bench repairs for FBOs, fleet operators, and customers who are capable of troubleshooting and removing/replacing their own aircraft’s electronic components. The company’s impressive list of test equipment, manufacturer approvals, and FAA ratings mean that Kings Avionics can also provide extensive range of unit-level repairs and overhauls.

Kings Avionics was founded in 1969 at the Johnson County Airport in Kansas by Steve Hayden, acknowledged to be a pioneer in the avionics service industry. The firm moved to Salt Lake City Airport in 1982, four years before it would become Kings Avionics’ permanent home. Now that’s pretty cut and dried, isn’t it? The problem is that it doesn’t come close to doing justice to the whole story of this company’s evolution! We’ll let Steve Hayden tell it. He is the general manager and president of Kings Avionics, and it is his story after all.

“This company started in Johnson County Airport in Olathe, Kan., back in 1969. No, wait. Let me correct that; it wasn’t the Johnson County airport back in those days. It was called Olathe City Airport. Now it’s called Johnson County Airport.

“I operated that shop until 1974, when I brought in my brother to be my partner, and we started looking for other areas or other parts of the country to get into. We located a shop in Casper, Wyo., that had been vacated. At first we were thinking of buying the equipment and moving it to another location, which we hadn’t determined at that time, but we ended up going into Casper and opening the shop. It became King Avionics Inc. in Casper, and at that point I moved there and manned that shop.

“Then my brother and I were partners in the shop at Olathe, Kan. I ended up selling my brother my half of the operation.” He later took on another person as a partner.

That was in 1978 or ’79, so the relationship between the shops at that time is that brothers owned them and shared the name.

From there Kings Avionics grew very quickly in Wyoming and in Olathe as well. In 1982, the world economic ‘boom’ started to fade away. “We started to look for a new location because everything in Wyoming was predicated on oil and as the oil crisis worsened so did the business climate.

“We had built quite a customer base from Salt Lake City, as a result of which we started to move the shop to Salt Lake City in ’82 while maintaining a presence in Casper. In 1986, we elected to shut down everything in Casper, and we moved, lock, stock and barrel, to Salt Lake. From there on out we’ve been strictly in Salt Lake City.”

Now, as to where the “Kings” came from, the answer couldn’t be simpler. When Hayden first started his company, he rented an area for the radio shop in a hanger belonging to a large FBO. The name on the hanger was “Kings Flying Service.” It was owned by Bill King, who is no relation to the King Radio Corp. Kings. “And that’s how Kings Avionics came to be,” Steve Hayden concluded with a disarming flourish.

Before we go any further, we should clear up any misunderstandings about why there are two Kings Avionics companies listed in the AEA Membership Directory. “That is my brother David’s shop,” Steve Hayden explained. “It’s still in Olathe, Kan., but he has moved to the New Century (KS) Airport, which is also in Johnson County. His is a separate corporation and he’s president there. It’s Kings Avionics—same name, two different companies. We share dealerships back and forth whenever we can. We’re related personally and corporately.”

From 1986 until the present day, Kings Avionics has moved to several different locations at the Salt Lake City Airport … and every move was predicated by growth. About eight years ago, they moved their lab from the airport proper to right across the street from the airport’s boundary. That is where Kings Avionics does all of its testing and repair of radios. It is also where the company’s offices are located.

Doug Hayden, Steve’s son, is vice president and the service department supervisor with Kings Avionics. “We still have a main installation shop at Salt Lake City International,” he stated, “in the Salt Lake Jet Center hangar.”

Indicative of how this firm has steadily, and healthily, grown is the number of professional staff on the team. In 1982, when they arrived in Salt Lake, there were three people. Twelve technicians, including Doug Hayden, handle service and installations. There are four people comprising the office staff. “Gee, from one to 16—that’s not bad!” Steve Hayden noted with understandable satisfaction.

Kings Avionics’ key staff includes FAA certified Inspection Authorization technicians. These techs, as well as the repair station inspectors, closely monitor all phases of the installation process, assuring that the work the customer can, and can't, see is done to Kings’ own rigorous quality standards. Once the installation is complete, these same inspection technicians conduct exhaustive performance and safety checks to ensure that the new systems have been properly integrated and are in working order.

What might the Haydens’ visions of the future be for this company? In keeping with the handle on reality that separates Kings Avionics from so many other companies, Doug Hayden said, “ I think it would be at the point where we have a little larger repair station allowing more specialization in certain areas.” Hopes and dreams notwithstanding, the Haydens realize their roots are in servicing single- or multi-piston-engine general aviation aircraft. “We’re never going to forget that.”

Kings Avionics provides expert service on corporate aircraft, including medium-to-large-body jets. Looking back at those visions of the future for a moment, Doug Hayden points out that “our repair station right now is very sound. It’s a good repair station that I could see increase in size—a larger facility for hanger operation.”

Even with an eye on the future, this is one company that is firmly grounded in the present.

Doing business in the real world is what Kings Avionics is all about—in their customers’ real world, make that. It starts with hearing a pleasant voice answer the phone with, “Thank you for calling Kings Avionics.”

“A few years back we could have gone to the phone mail systems, and we said no,” Steve Hayden noted. “We were not going to do that; we are never going to do that, because we will not ‘de-personalize’ our relationships with our customers.”

Kings Avionics is authorized to repair or overhaul components from nearly every major avionics manufacturer. The company’s facilities include bench repair stations, clean rooms, and calibration labs. To guarantee that a customer’s component can be repaired right away, Kings Avionics has built an impressively large parts inventory. If the component cannot be repaired immediately, Kings Avionics can provide loaners or rental units so a customer can get his or her aircraft back in service “now.” To ensure quality and reliability, all of the parts and components in the Kings Avionics inventory comply with FAA traceability and electrostatic-sensitive devices (ESDS) requirements.

Whether service is provided in the customer’s hanger or in Kings’ shop, Kings Avionics technicians have the expertise necessary to troubleshoot and repair all makes of aircraft avionics systems, ranging from the smallest aircraft to the largest commercial airliner. Armed with the latest in portable testers and calibration equipment, Kings Avionics flight-line technicians can bring the repair station to the customer’s aircraft on the ramp. The FAA has certified the Kings Avionics repair station to perform flight-line maintenance in the company’s own facility or in the remotest of locations. “No job is complete until our technicians perform rigorous quality inspections to ensure that the customer’s aircraft is completely ready to return to service. Customer satisfaction and safety are the primary concerns of the Kings Avionics Flight Line team,” Doug Hayden said.

Safe to say, the most reliable avionics systems are those that look as good from behind the panel as they do from the front. The quality of the wiring, the connections, and the mountings is every bit as important as the dependability of the radios and instruments. Cutting corners during the installation process of an aircraft’s electronics too often leads to undesirable, even catastrophic, results.

Kings Avionics installation specialists understand the importance of designing and building first-rate avionics systems. That’s why Kings Avionics technicians take the time to do installations correctly—beginning with carefully analyzing the aircraft’s existing components and then determining the aircraft’s workload and capabilities. With this data, Kings’ specialists can create a customized avionics solution that will be safe, effective, and within your budget.

Kings Avionics has a large installation facility that includes a fully equipped metal shop, wiring room, and ample floor space to accommodate large aircraft. The technicians have the training and experience necessary to install everything from standard avionics components to multi-function displays and entertainment systems.

Because some of Kings Avionics technicians are certified A&P mechanics, they can also provide custom panels and mountings for your aircraft that include silk-screens and engravings.

Kings Avionics personnel know they can build avionics packages that will work reliably and efficiently. How do they know that? Because they have been building optimized avionics solutions for over 30 years.

A point of pride is that Kings Avionics is one of the few avionics facilities that have received FAA certification to perform maintenance and annual certifications on Non-Federal Air Traffic Control Towers. Their technicians are available for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on all components of ATC tower systems—including ground-to-air communications, automatic back-up systems, voice recording systems, automatic voice switching, barometric pressure reporting, wind speed and direction systems, temperature and dew point systems, and emergency lighting systems.

Kings Avionics technicians travel throughout the United States on short notice to perform repairs and calibrations on non-federal ATC towers. Kings Avionics is a complete company, committed to delivering excellent installation and maintenance services to its customers.

Kings Avionics is staffed by many of the best people in the avionics business. Because the company has invested heavily in providing them with the latest equipment, facilities and training, they in turn provide their customers with unparalleled installation and repair services. From the flight line to the repair bench to the instrumentation lab, Kings Avionics guarantees their customers’ satisfaction with their responsiveness and professionalism.

The company has been designing, building and repairing avionics systems for over 30 years, in the process coming to the realization that nearly every repair and installation has its own set of requirements and challenges. That’s why they take the time to carefully analyze an aircraft’s systems and recommend solutions that fit the customer’s budget and specific needs. “We aren’t just out to repair an aircraft’s avionics. We want to optimize its performance,” Steve Hayden said.

Where safety is concerned, Kings Avionics realizes that the well being of pilots and their passengers can depend upon the reliability of the aircraft’s systems. This reliability is something Kings Avionics takes very seriously, and that is why they have set the standard for safety among avionics facilities in the Rocky Mountain region.

Due to Kings’ exhaustive inspection and quality assurance procedures, the FAA has granted Kings Avionics extensive repair station ratings that allow the company to service nearly every private and commercial avionics system on the market today.

Kings Avionics is authorized to sell, install and service equipment from every major aircraft electronics manufacturer in the world, and can guarantee that what they sell will work in your aircraft. The company has an extensive line of new and used equipment. Kings Avionics’ parts inventory can be viewed on its website anytime. If they have what you need already in stock, fine. If not, contact them for pricing information.

How does one sum up a company such as Kings Avionics? For sure, it can’t be done in a few words. Actually, Kings Avionics has provided an effective summation in the company’s own words: “To guarantee customer satisfaction, everyone on the Kings Avionics employee roster from top to bottom promises to provide superior service, value and safety in everything he or she does. Service—quality you can count on; Value—performance optimized for you; and Safety—security and peace of mind.”

Nicely put.

Kings Avionics Inc.
176 North 2200 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116-2946
801-539-8412
Fax: 801-355-8445

Reprinted with permission from the January 2004 issue of Avionics News Magazine.