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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 cur- rently 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 comple- tion 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, engi- neered and is built by Greenpoint. The center is licensed by Boeing to do the necessary modifications and installa- tion. 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 Aer- oloft kit and for the full interior com- pletion. 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 anniver- sary 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 sys- tems 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. tinues 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 enthu- siasm 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 lis- tener 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 pur- pose 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 PHOTOS: KIRBY J. HARRISON SkyTheater founder Gregg Launer put nearly 1,000 movies into a Global Express Aved. any created,” he explains. build every system as if it were going into my own airplane. | want to impress even myself, and I’m my own worst critic.” His earliest memories are of music and the- ater and lying awake in bed and listening to leg- endary 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. | 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 26 Aviation International News ¢ July 2012 ¢ www.ainonline.com SkyTheater. And as if life had determined to create a movie script for him, Launer’s first cus- tomer and later friend was Alexander Zuyev, the pilot who defected in spectacular man- ner from the former Soviet Union in 1989, at the same time delivering a MiG-29 into west- ern 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 busi- nessman 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 sys- tem (either 7.1 or 5.1 surround sound), with 19-inch touchscreen, video monitor/control- lers 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 fortu- nate” to be part of a group that was “setting the standards that still exemplify visual film and movie soundtracks today.” A pou farmer nets et 3 final hi destiny after accidentally nipping a capnerl princeaa's — 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 home- theater 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 elec- tronics manufacturers will often come to him for his input before introducing some new technology at a major trade show.” Among Guenther’s home theater custom- ers 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 atinues 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 interi- ors business, much of it acquired by Goodrich in 2010 from DeCrane Aero- space. 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 Jas- per Morrison, the Dutch designers have introduced to the Moooi, Broog and Vitra Edelman’s new Leather & Lace line isa 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 leath- ers 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 refur- bishment simultaneous with other maintenance, all under one roof,” said Aero-Dienst managing director Mar- tin 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. Sor itinues on page 28 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030013