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www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 45 Ask the theoretical "man on the street" in St. John's, Newfoundland, his knowledge of Provincial Aerospace Ltd. (PAL), and the odds-on response is a description of that "little regional airport," Provincial Airlines. While that is correct, it does not even scratch the surface of PAL's business endeavors, as it is a world pioneer and leader in Maritime Domain Awareness. "We are a special mission maritime surveillance compa- ny that is not platform specific," said Keith Stoodley, Vice President Marketing & Sales, during a recent interview at PAL's office in its St. John's headquarters. PAL is a privately held company based in St. John's, Newfoundland, with more than 34 years of fixed wing operations; more than 25 years of marine surveillance operations; more than 100,000 hours of flying time and today, more than 600 employees. While the general pub- lic sees only the regional airline side of PAL — amazing when you consider the close-knit nature of this city of 120,000 — the company derives only 35% of its annual revenue from passenger air service, with the remaining 65% coming from aerospace and defense. The company's surveillance operations were born out of necessity, in step with the development of St. John's off- shore oil and gas Exploration and Production industry. With the task of drilling for oil and gas in the middle of 'iceberg alley' on the Grand Banks, it was imperative to track and better understand iceberg floes. Enter PAL, who stakes the claim as the world's first pri- vate operator of digital X-bank anti-submarine warfare radar, according to Stoodley. "The owner of PAL went to Litton to acquire a X-band radar, and the natural question was 'what in the hell does a Newfoundland company want with X-band radar?" said Stoodley. The answer was a simple one: the high tech tool was need for the detection of icebergs to get the offshore industry going. PAL delivers Eyes in the Sky By Greg Trauthwein PAL is a privately held companywith more than 34 years of fixed wing operations; more than 25 years of marine surveillance operations; more than 100,000 hours of fly- ing time and today, more than 600 employees. MTR#4 (33-48).qxd 5/13/2008 10:28 AM Page 45
