Mid-Continent Instrument Co. finds success with battery expansion (+video)

Todd Winter thinks one of the next big things in aviation is a mostly electric airplane.

That’s why seven years ago he started a division within Mid-Continent Instrument Co. that would offer a way to power the next generation of general, business and commercial airplanes that have shed some of their mechanical and hydraulic systems for lighter and less-complex electrical systems.

It was also a way to diversify the more than 50-year-old Wichita-based company that manufactures and repairs aircraft instruments.

The decision, he said Tuesday at the opening of the National Business Aviation Association Convention & Exhibition, has been the right move.

“We have successfully moved into that part of the business with power products,” Winter said of the True Blue Power division. “Where we have pushed the envelope is with lithium-ion batteries … it’s a key enabler to the realization to a more electric aircraft.”

On Monday, Mid-Continent’s True Blue division announced R1 Airlines, based in Canada, as the first commercial operator to install True Blue’s lithium-ion main aircraft batteries in its Bombardier DHC-8-100, or “Dash 8,” aircraft. The on-demand charter service installed the battery after True Blue Power and R1’s parent company, Avmax, received a Part 25 Supplemental Type Certificate from Transport Canada to use the batteries on the Bombardier aircraft.

Winter said True Blue’s lithium-ion aircraft batteries will also be used on new production aircraft of several manufacturers, including Bell Helicopter and Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft A36 Bonanza single piston-engine airplanes.

Winter said that in the case of R1 Airlines, True Blue’s batteries weighed 50 percent – or nearly 100 pounds – less than the ones they replaced on the Dash 8 airplanes.

“Especially with these products, we’re moving more up in the airline market,” he said. “The airline business is thriving, maybe a little bit stronger than GA (general aviation).”

With the development of True Blue Power business, Winter said Mid-Continent has nearly returned to its pre-recession employment level of 200 people.

Winter said that when he launched True Blue he had to decide whether to create an entirely separate business with its own workforce and facility, apart from the Mid-Continent building at 9400 E. 34th St. North. Ultimately he decided to use mostly Mid-Continent employees.

“With the impact of the recession, I’m really glad I did that,” he said.

The workforce “is really blended in internally. There’s a lot of crossover. We can use technicians who can build both types of products. But we do have a few that are dedicated and specialized” to True Blue.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 6:44 PM.