Yingling Aviation, an MRO and FBO facility located at Dwight D. Eisenhower National airport in Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded Garmin's top avionics dealer awards for 2019 and 2020.

After securing a Gold Award of Excellence in 2019 for having attained “a first-class level of sales performance, technical expertise and customer service,” Yingling also received advance notification that it has already qualified for Platinum Award recognition in 2020. The Gold Award placed Yingling among the top 10 per cent of Garmin dealers. The Platinum Award is Garmin's top level of recognition. The awards recognise Yingling's success in its third and fourth years as part of the Garmin integrated flight deck (IFD) dealer network. The Olathe, Kansas-based avionics manufacturer typically presents its awards based on dealers' performance during the previous year.

Yingling's avionics department offers experience with the full-range of Garmin avionics packages, from the G3X, G500TXi, G600TXi and G1000NXi Phase II on single engine piston and turboprop aircraft to the G5000 glass upgrade suite. The G5000 is Garmin's latest line of satellite-based navigation capabilities, digital management tools, nextgen/SESAR/Eurocontrol operational support for ADS-B and data comm/Link 2000+ and graphical display technologies for enhanced safety and crew coordination. Yingling began carrying out G5000 upgrades after being approved in 2016 as one of a very limited number of Garmin upgrade centres. The company also holds the STC for audio expansion of the Garmin G1000/NXi for special missions aircraft including law enforcement and military piston and Caravan turboprop aircraft.

“We are very pleased to receive this Gold Award in only our third year as an authorised Garmin IFD level dealer,” says Dominic Stremel, Yingling's director of avionics. Stremel, who joined Yingling in March from Bombardier Learjet, notes that “this recognition spotlights the efforts of our very capable avionics team. This award builds on their outstanding record across the Garmin product line, which includes retrofitting more than 250 Federal Express Cessna Caravans with Garmin G600 PFD/MFD flight display systems and 120 with Garmin GFC600 Autopilots.”

Stremel leads a staff of 20 technicians, installers and support personnel. He brings more than a dozen years of experience in the aviation industry to his role at Yingling. He has served as a manufacturing engineer and operations manager at Bombardier and as a manufacturing engineer at Gulfstream and Heroux-Devtek prior to taking his current post. “I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of professionals in this industry, and it's very obvious to me that this group deserves these Garmin awards,” he concludes.