GippsAero
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1977 |
| Headquarters | Latrobe Valley Airport, Morwell, Victoria, Australia |
| Products | Aircraft |
| Parent | Mahindra Aerospace |
| Website | gippsaero.com |
GippsAero (formerly Gippsland Aeronautics) is an Australian aircraft manufacturer based at Latrobe Valley Airport in Morwell, Victoria. The company builds single-engined utility aircraft. These include the multi-role GA8 Airvan and the agricultural GA200 Fatman. The company has been majority owned by Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group since 2009.
Gippsland Aeronautics was founded by Peter Furlong and George Morgan. The company started operations at the Latrobe Regional Airport in Morwell in the 1970s as an aircraft maintenance and modification business working for large organisations such as the National Safety Council of Australia and Esso Australia, as well as local commercial operators.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Peter Furlong and John Brown were pilots, builders, fabricators and maintenance personnel for, amongst others, the Latrobe Valley Aircraft Club and the Ultra Light Club of Australia.
The late John "Brownie" Brown was a builder of timber aircraft. Brownie was involved with the second airframe of the Australian designed Corby Starlet in the mid-1960s. He later built the first Australian example of the Volmer Sportsman amphibian aircraft (VH-TUB).
Brownie and Pete continued to service aircraft together until the mid-1980s when Brownie was diagnosed with cancer.
The modification of agricultural aircraft to improve capability and safety marked the beginnings of Gippsland Aeronautics' aircraft design and manufacturing business as it stands today. The company increasingly modified five agricultural Piper PA-25 Pawnees in the mid-1980s to the point where it was decided to certify a new design.
In 1991, Gippsland Aeronautics' first indigenous design, the GA200 Fatman, achieved Australian airworthiness certification. The certified production GA200 Fatman (also referred to unofficially as the GA200B) had a lifting capacity of 800 Litres with a 250 hp engine.
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