Efrain Lopez Of Georgetown Instrument Services And Castleberry Instruments & Avionics Is Member Of The Year; Genesys Aerosystems Is Associate Member Of The Year

Two prestigious industry awards were presented during the opening session of the 61st annual Aircraft Electronics Association International Convention & Trade Show at the MGM Grand Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday, March 26.

Efrain Lopez (pictured) of Georgetown Instrument Services and Castleberry Instruments & Avionics was named the 2018 AEA Member of the Year, while Genesys Aerosystems was honored as the AEA Associate Member of the Year.

Efrain Lopez is the founder and owner of Georgetown Instrument Services Inc. and the owner of Castleberry Instruments & Avionics.

His passion for aviation, developing relationships, and his relentless focus on the customer has generated a long track record of growing businesses and delivering financial results. He loves a good conversation and discovered early on that the foundation of his accomplishments are his relationships.

Prior to launching his own repair station, Lopez began his career at Castleberry about 35 years ago working on rotors, progressed to instrumentation, and did the leap to the business side in customer service and eventually sales and marketing. He also held the role of general manager with the JDC Company before starting Georgetown Instrument Services in 2002.

Lopez currently serves on the Airport Advisory Board of Taylor, Texas, and Jonah Community Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the restoration of a historic school building.

Genesys Aerosystems brings together Chelton Flight Systems Inc. and S-TEC Corp. Chelton Flight Systems, originally founded in 1997, developed the world's first FAA-certified 3-D synthetic vision EFIS and GPS/WAAS navigator and has grown to become a leader in integrated cockpit avionics systems for special-mission aircraft. Key technologies include synthetic vision with three-dimensional highway-in-the-sky navigation, integrated flight management and hazard alerting, and ultra-compact, highly ruggedized sensors that provide ultimate customer benefits of increased safety, improved dispatch rates, mission flexibility, and seamless future growth.

S-TEC Corp., founded in 1978, offers a full line of autopilots for airplanes and helicopters. From low-cost analog wing levelers to sophisticated, digital, three-axis systems with Flight Director and envelope protection, S-TEC has FAA certification for nearly 1,000 aircraft types and has delivered more than 40,000 autopilot systems. The company's new HeliSAS brings digital, full-authority autopilot technology to the market in a package weighing an unprecedented 15 pounds. Available as a stability augmentation system only or with all autopilot modes, HeliSAS dramatically enhances safety for light single- and twin-engine helicopters.

Genesys Aerosystems has been an active member of the AEA since 1980. It participates in training and exhibits at the AEA International Convention & Trade Show and the AEA Connect Conferences.

The nominees for the 2018 AEA Member of the Year Award were:

• Greg Clark of Complete Avionics Pty. Ltd.
• Efrain Lopez of Georgetown Instrument Services and Castleberry Instruments & Avionics
• Pahan Ranasingha of Avionics Installations
• Marc Rome of Empire Avionics
• Tim Shaw of Rocky Mountain Aircraft
• Steve Wysong of Wysong Enterprises

The nominees for the 2018 AEA Associate Member of the Year Award were:

• Cobham AvComm
• Genesys Aerosystems
• Heads Up Technologies
• KGS Electronics
• Rockwell Collins
• Satcom Direct

(Images provided with AEA news release)

FMI: www.aea.net/awards