FPL is based at Durham Tees Valley airport (DTVA), Co Durham in the UK and operates 4 Beechcraft King Air aircraft; AFI is based in Braunschweig, Nieder Sachsen, in Germany and operates 1 Beechcraft King Air Aircraft.
Flight Precision Limited (FPL) was formed in 1993 as a joint venture by FR Aviation Group Ltd (now Cobham Flight Operations and Services) owning 51% of the company, and Aerodata GmbH the remaining 49%. Its mission was to offer services for the flight inspection/calibration/testing of airfield and en-route navigation aids and area surveillance radar.
FPL began operations at DTVA in October 1996 and in the same month acquired the UK Civil Aviation Authority's Flight Calibration Service (FCS) which was also based at DTVA. FCS had been supplying high quality flight calibration services to its customers for 50 years. From 1947 to 1993 as the Civil Aviation Flying Unit (CAFU) it was located at London Stansted airport, and in 1993 it relocated to DTVA.
In May 1998 FPL acquired the assets, staff and contracts of TRACE Worldwide which was based at Biggin Hill Airport.
In January 2006 Aerodata decided to withdraw from offering flight inspection services to concentrate on the design and manufacture of flight inspection role equipment. As a consequence, Cobham acquired 100% of FPL together with a Flight Inspection service company now called AFI Flight Inspection GmbH (AFI). FPL owns a subsidiary company called AFI Flight Inspection Holding GmbH which in turn owns AFI.
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FR Aviation (FRA) was formed in 1985 to operate special mission aircraft for the UK Ministry of Defence. FRA is wholly owned by Cobham plc and is one of the largest companies within the group. The company owns and operates some 30 aircraft from Bournemouth and Teesside Airports and through its other joint ventures in France and South East Asia. These aircraft provide Threat Simulation, Electronic Warfare, Target Towing and Maritime Surveillance services. Customers include the RAF, the Royal Navy, and HM Customs.
In addition FRA has a comprehensive engineering facility at Bournemouth capable of performing the full spectrum of engineering tasks from aircraft and engineering overhaul down to avionics and component inspection and repair. In 1997 FRA was chosen as a major partner in a consortium to produce the next generation of UK Maritime Patrol Aircraft, with the airframe engineering to be carried out at Bournemouth.
Prior to 1985 the company had operated as the airfield division of Flight Refuelling Limited, another Cobham plc company. It therefore has over 60 years experience in the operation, modification and maintenance of special mission aircraft. |
