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Continued from page 24
completions
& refurbs
speaking with a potential 787 customer
who is a repeat client,” said Jonas, “and
the talks are pretty far along.”
Greenpoint Technologies is currently
modifying two 747-8s delivered
from Boeing and installing the center’s
StandardAero in Springfield, Ill. does major
refurbishment on large- to small-cabin jets.
“Anything that can be done with an interior, we do
in Springfield,” says StandardAero’s Scott Taylor.
Aeroloft rest area in each before further
delivery of the airplanes to other completion
centers for outfitting.
The Aeroloft is located in the area
above the main deck and aft of the
upper-deck, forward lounge in the
executive 747. It was designed, engineered
and is built by Greenpoint. The
center is licensed by Boeing to do the
necessary modifications and installation.
It will receive EASA certification
this year and adds 393 additional sq
ft to the 4,786 ft in the main deck and
upper lounge.
Sloan Benson, executive v-p at
Greenpoint, said interest is growing in
the Aerolift elevator it designed for the
747-8. “We’re expecting to book one
later this year.”
Greenpoint has contracts to modify
three more 747-8s for the Aeroloft. Two
of them, like the first two, will go on to
other centers for installation of the Aeroloft
kit and for the full interior completion.
A fifth green 747-8 will arrive
next year and remain at Greenpoint for
full outfitting. It will be the Kirkland,
Wash. center’s first green completion
of a twin-aisle airplane, an appropriate
way to mark Greenpoint’s 25th anniversary
in the business.
Gore Design Completion delivered
two twin-aisle airplanes in 2011: a 767 to
a central Asian head of state and a 777.
Kathy Gore Walters, co-founder and
president, said the company expects to
deliver its first BBJ3 in June for a Middle
East client, and in the same month to turn
over an ACJ320 for a central Asian client.
Later this year, Gore design expects also
to deliver two ACJ340s.
Pats Aircraft Systems continues to
install its FAA-certified auxiliary fuel systems
in BBJs. “We’ve done more than 140
aux fuel systems installations on behalf
of Boeing,” said senior v-p of sales and
marketing John Eichten.
Continues on page 28
SKYTHEATER TAKES MOVIES TO THE MAX
Earlier this year, a flying theater rolled up
to the Signature FBO on Teterboro Airport’s
south side in the form of a Global Express
XRS equipped with an entertainment system
called SkyTheater. With it came SkyTheater
founder Gregg Launer, 52, a friendly bear of a
man who tries for modesty but whose enthusiasm
spills close to hubris when he describes
the custom-built entertainment package as
being to the average movie experience what
Sofia Vergara is to simply being female. Launer
is something of a likeable version of Steven
Jobs. His knowledge in the world of sound is
such that he frequently stops and searches his
vocabulary for language that the average listener
will understand. And frequently failing,
he will offer an apology and start over. In his
own circle, he is often described by clients as
a genius. To lesser human beings, his thoughts
seem to run like a pinball through the random
light and sound of an arcade game, with a purpose
difficult to recognize.
“I’m a true audiophile, and what I’m
building is a sensory experience that will so
completely absorb my clients that it becomes
reality and they lose themselves in the world
that the director or cameraman or composer
SkyTheater founder Gregg
Launer put nearly 1,000
movies into a Global
Express Avod.
created,” he explains. “I
build every system as if it
were going into my own
airplane. I want to impress
even myself, and I’m my
own worst critic.”
His earliest memories
are of music and theater
and lying awake in
bed and listening to legendary
DJ Cousin Brucie
lay down a cascade of rock and roll on New
York’s powerhouse WABC. Even decades
later, one of his favorite toys at home is a
Rock-Ola Jukebox. “When you listen to Dean
Martin, or Elvis, or Chuck Berry on a jukebox,
you’re hearing rock and roll the way it was
made to be heard,” he avows.
And he recalls a summer when his parents
took him on vacation to the Deauville Beach
Resort in Miami Beach, where The Supremes
were performing. “They were in the room
across the hall from us, and Mary Wilson and
Flo Ballard shared a cabana next to ours. I was
too young to attend the show, but the resort
manager had mercy on me, took me by the
hand and put me in the front row.”
By the age of 18, Launer held a first-class
radiotelephone license from the FCC and by 19
was an audio engineer producing music tracks
at NBC in Miami. And along the way, he also
indulged what he describes as his alternative
passion of flying, picking up his private license
and going on to become a flight instructor.
At the age of 32, he and wife, Blanche,
formed a company that two years later became
PHOTOS: KIRBY J. HARRISON
SkyTheater. And as if life had determined to
create a movie script for him, Launer’s first customer
and later friend was Alexander Zuyev,
the pilot who defected in spectacular manner
from the former Soviet Union in 1989, at
the same time delivering a MiG-29 into western
hands. “He loved America and would have
the most incredible Fourth of July parties. But
instead of beer and burgers, he would serve
vodka and caviar. It was his belief in me that
helped launch SkyTheater.”
Getting Off the Ground
Launer’s first theater in the sky was for businessman
and entrepreneur Wayne Huizenga
of Blockbuster and the airplane was a BAC
1-11. Then came a Boeing 727-200 and Launer
was off and running.
It was a time when digital technology
was in its infancy and the reliability was still
in question. So Launer devised a way for all
the soundtracks to play through a single system
(either 7.1 or 5.1 surround sound), with
19-inch touchscreen, video monitor/controllers
throughout the cabin and two 43-inch
plasma monitors. “Ten years later,” claims
Launer, “that airplane was still state of the art.”
In the late 1990s some of those working for
producer/director George Lucas’ Skywalker
Ranch happened to listen to the SkyTheater
system Launer had installed in the 727. He was
immediately recruited and spent the next two
years–off and on–there, working and learning.
Launer remembers being “incredibly fortunate”
to be part of a group that was “setting
the standards that still exemplify visual film
and movie soundtracks today.”
In the meantime, Launer had formed a Sky-
Theater partnership in Fort Lauderdale with
friend and fellow traveler Andrew Guenther,
who owns Advanced Audio Design, a hometheater
firm in Sarasota, Fla.
“He handles a lot of the equipment and
designs the electronics that make everything
work. Andrew does a guy’s home theater, and
if the guy owns an airplane, SkyTheater does
the cabin entertainment,” says Launer.
Guenther’s talent and influence is such,
claims Launer, “that high-end audiovisual electronics
manufacturers will often come to him
for his input before introducing some new
technology at a major trade show.”
Among Guenther’s home theater customers
are movie actor John Travolta, basketball
coach Pat Riley, singer Gloria Estefan “and
more who prefer not to be named,” he says.
Though focused on two different theater
markets, Guenther and Launer are involved
together in a music project designed to
“recruit and produce live venues for musicians
Continues on page 28
Goodrich Near Completion
Last year, United Technologies
agreed to the acquisition of Goodrich
in a deal that called for UT to shell out
$16.5 billion cash and assume $1.9
billion in assumed debt. The acquisition
by UT was to be finalized by the end of
last month.
The acquisition would bring to UT
Goodrich’s rapidly growing interiors
business, much of it acquired by
Goodrich in 2010 from DeCrane Aerospace.
Goodrich describes the seating,
cabin management and entertainment
systems and cabinetry as part of its
“total cabin capability” for everything in
business jet cabin components.
Leather and Lace
Comes from Edelman
Edelman Leather has introduced a new
Leather & Lace line, inspired by the work
of artists from the studios of Belgium,
Hungary and Slovakia and transferred
through the use of laser etching and
cutting technology.
Inspired by the die-cut felt work of Jasper
Morrison, the Dutch designers have
introduced to the Moooi, Broog and Vitra
Edelman’s new Leather & Lace line is a
new play on age-old craftsmanship from
Belgium, Hungary and Slovakia.
lines hauntingly elegant chandeliers by
Diller Scofidio & Renfro for Swarovski,
and the collections of Prada, McQueen,
Louis and Lanvin.
Edelman’s artists describe the results
of this new line on its Cavallini hair-on
hides as “chic and fun.” Other leathers
appropriate for the Leather & Lace
designs include Napoli and Royal Suede.
Metrica Aviation Makes
Move at Nuremberg Airport
Maintenance, repair and overhaul
specialist Aero-Dienst, in the process
of increasing its usable space at
Germany’s Nuremberg Airport with
another hangar, has added 27,000 sq
ft and considerable refurbishment
expertise through a partnership with
Metrica Aviation Interior.
“We are now able to offer an
operator interior repair and refurbishment
simultaneous with other
maintenance, all under one roof,” said
Aero-Dienst managing director Martin
Bauer. The two companies began
working together in January this year
and Metrica has already completed
several refurbishments.
Metrica is an established business, a
subsidiary of Qatar’s Ghanim bin Saad al
Saad and Sons Group Holdings.
Continues on page 28
26 Aviation International News • July 2012 • www.ainonline.com
Continued from page 26
completions
& refurbs
Eichten said Pats did a nine-year
maintenance check on a BBJ last year
and included a major refurbishment
at the same time. The center has also
sent out “quite a number of bids” on
BBJs due for the 12-year maintenance
check, and all include “substantial
refurbishment work.”
King Aerospace is looking toward
the bizliner business for a boost. “We’re
in discussions now with international
customers for executive conversions
and even a green airplane completion,”
said Jerry King. “And they’re all
widebodies.”
According to David Edinger, CEO at
Comlux America in Indianapolis, many
of the early Airbus A319s and Boeing
Business Jets have had minimal cabin
A technician in the Goodrich interior paint shop in
Wichita applies finish to a piece of cabin cabinetry.
upgrades since they entered service some
12 years ago, and the cabin electronics are
practically antique.
Edinger said Comlux America, part
of The Comlux Group in Switzerland, is
“really starting to roll.”
He told AIN the first green airplane
has been delivered–an ACJ319–and it
came in 1,000 pounds below the completion
allowance weight. It also tested with
an average cabin noise level of 48 dB(SIL),
“about what you might expect in a suburban
living room, and it was under the
projected noise level by 3 dB(SIL).”
Currently undergoing refurbishment
is a Boeing 757 and a pair of Airbus
ACJs. In the second quarter this year,
a BBJ to be outfitted for Hyundai was
scheduled to roll into the Comlux hangar.
Comlux America is approved by
both Airbus and Boeing for interior
outfitting. “We want to focus on BBJs
and ACJs and do this segment well and
on time,” said The Comlux Group president
Richard Gaona.
Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg, Germany,
is working on a Boeing 767 executive
interior and is looking for two 747-8s
to roll in by year-end.
Walter Heerdt, Lufthansa’s senior
v-p of marketing and sales, expects the
Continues on page 30
SkyTheater | Continued from preceding page
in unique multi-channel surround-sound, as
well as to promote them to the film and television
industries for soundtrack recordings.”
In 2007, “an executive closely associated
with the Internet industry came to Launer
with his new Global Express XRS, and made it
clear that what he wanted was far beyond anything
off-the-shelf.” In 2008 the airplane was
delivered with a complete and custom-built
SkyTheater that includes:
• 1080p high-bandwidth wiring throughout
• monitors and speakers
• audiovisual on-demand (Avod) with a library
of more than 1,000 movies.
• a SkyTheater app to allow passengers to
use personal iPhones and iPads to control all
aspects of the entertainment system.
• a customized touch-screen control package.
“The owner can also customize the sound
balance in the cabin by simply going through
the field until he finds a ‘flavor’ he likes,”
explains Launer. “In this particular airplane,”
says Launer, “SkyTheater is pre-tuned for the
owner’s personal tastes to reproduce audio
identical to what he would hear in the Hollywood
Bowl or Lincoln Center or some other
popular venue.”
Totally Absorbed in the Moment
Putting SkyTheater through its paces on
the Global, Launer selects surround sound and
asks visitors to walk through the entire cabin,
to sit anywhere they like, even lie on the floor
and note any change in the audio. His grin
broadens as not one individual professes to
detect a difference.
Launer goes on to select Star Wars Episode
VI: Return of the Jedi, picking the scene of the
chase on Ewok speeder bikes through the forest
of Endor. “Now listen closely,” he advises.
As the action roars across the screen, it is perfectly
paced by the sound in that reality, “and
if I hadn’t told you to listen, you would have
been totally absorbed by the experience without
realizing why.
“What I aim for is not only a perfect audio
system, but one that is perfectly synchronized
with the film,” he says.
But is it high-definition? Launer expresses
mock surprise at the question. Then he admits
that not everything in the Global’s film bank
is HD; however, he also points out that with
the technology to tune the system properly,
even a pre-digital recording will be rendered
in sufficient high definition as to be almost
unrecognizable as anything else. And he also
A private lavatory in a narrow-body bizliner features
liberal use of dark veneer and a marble countertop.
explains that simply having a Blu-ray player or
Avod and an HD monitor does not ensure an
HD experience. “You have to have the bandwidth
to carry the signal that will allow 1080p
between the origin and the final destination.”
While the system in the Global Express
XRS is now almost four years old, and
SkyTheater has since done several more airplanes,
including Donald Trump’s recently
completed Boeing 757, the entertainment
package in the XRS remains, he claims,
“years ahead of anything else.”
Warren Justice, chief pilot on the Global,
chuckles when he remembers his first meeting
with Launer, “a big guy dressed like a biker and
wearing a black beret. But he knew what he
was talking about and no one in this company
has regretted listening,” Justice continues.
“I’ve never heard anything like what he put
into this airplane. Even after it was installed,
he insisted on going with us on a flight test to
tune the sound for cruise at 41,000 feet. He
personally programmed the individual controls.
It was so well thought out that the owner
went right into it on the first day and didn’t
need a single lesson.”
Since installation, the airplane has been all
over the world and not a single component of
the entertainment system has needed to be
changed, said Justice. However, he adds, on
several occasions, when the airplane was passing
through Florida with a stop-over, Launer
has insisted on coming out to see if the system
was still properly tuned.
The system is not inexpensive, allows Justice.
Just a little north of a million dollars. But
he adds, “If this is what you want, you’ll definitely
get what you pay for. I don’t know how
we could have done any better.”
Theo Kalomirakis, president of Theo Kalomirakis
Theaters of Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of
the foremost designers of home theaters in
the world and has consistently turned down
requests to do an in-flight theater. “I have
been skeptical of the ability of anyone to control
sound in such an environment,” he told
AIN. “What Gregg designed and built on that
Global Express is the first serious system I’ve
heard. Gregg has tamed the beast.”
But it isn’t just a matter of being good
at what you do, says Launer. “It’s a matter
of passion, and of loving what you do. Think of
SkyTheater as a personal transporter [a la Star
Trek]. You step into it in New York City and you
step out of it in Los Angeles, and everything in
between was just a moment in time.” –K.J.H.
Iacobucci Shines at EBACE
Iacobucci HF appeared at EBACE with
a new espresso maker for the business
jet galley and a galley cart that doesn’t
look out of place on a large private jet.
The 28V espresso machine does not
work with the usual boiler but with
patented heat exchangers to ensure
instant and continuous operation without
waiting for the water to reheat
after each use. In addition, the heat
exchanger makes for a much lighter
machine, and its “open system” allows
the use of all easy-serve espresso pods.
The serving cart, created by
DesignworksUSA, features attachable
“skins” or even transparent windows to
allow passengers to see available items. For
use in a private jet, the top surface can be
modified for a more formal appearance.
“We brought the style, fit and finish
that customers expect to find in premium
environments at home to enhance
their on-board experience,” said Laurenz
Schaffer, president of BMW Group
DesignworksUSA.
An espresso maker and an executive galley cart
are two new items from Italy’s lacobucci HF.
AirGlide Coatings Cut Fuel Burn
Aviation marketing consultancy Action
Aviation has signed an exclusive distribution
agreement with AirGlide, a UK
company that claims that its new Aviation
Shield nano-technology coating can
result in fuel-burn savings of about 4
percent through a drag reduction of up
to 40 percent.
According to Action Aviation’s website,
an ACJ318 on a two-hour flight
might burn 9,500 pounds of fuel. With
the AirGlide coating, the same aircraft
would burn 200 pounds less fuel over
that same route.
Other advantages include reducing the
carbon footprint, reducing cleaning and
maintenance costs and greater protection
against corrosion and erosion. It
also means, the company claims, that
the exterior paint will last longer.
AkzoNobel Wins
Airbus Approval
AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings of the
Netherlands has received approval of its
Aerobase base coat and Aviox UVR clearcoat
system from Airbus as an option.
The system allows selective removal
of only the base coat/clear coat in
preparation for repainting, leaving
the original primer intact and thereby
saving the aircraft owner time and
money, according to the Amsterdambased
company.
Further, AkzoNobel said the system
“was developed in line with one of Airbus’s
key objectives to produce aircraft
that are friendlier to the environment
and more eco-efficient.” The base coat/
clear coat system is ready for use in
series production.
Continues on page 30
28 Aviation International News • July 2012 • www.ainonline.com