Aerospace giant Rockwell Collins marks 40 years in Melbourne

When talking about some of the big players in aviation — Airbus, Beechcraft, Gulfstream, LearJet — you can't get into too much detail without bringing Rockwell Collins Inc.'s operation in Melbourne into the conversation.

It's where Rockwell Collins workers test and manufacture aviation electronics for commercial passenger jets and business aircraft.

Today, the company is marking its 40th year in Melbourne, with a three-hour reception at its Melbourne headquartersinvolving employees, company executives and state and local officials and community leaders.

The event comes just as Brevard County, and Melbourne International Airport in particular, is seeing sizable and fast-paced growth in the aviation and aerospace industry.

Rockwell Collins helped ignite a similar economic burst four decades ago and remains a key component in the current aviation/aeronautic growth spurt.

"They've been a great community partner in Melbourne," said Melbourne Mayor Kathy Meehan, who will read a special proclamation for the company at today's event.

"Having them in our community has been wonderful for us, and the city of Melbourne," she said.

The roots of Rockwell Collins, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, goes back to 1933 when Arthur Collins started the Collins Radio Co.

In 1973, a year before opening its Melbourne site, Collins Radio was purchased by Rockwell International. In 2001, the avionics division of Rockwell International was spun off to form the current Rockwell Collins Inc.

When it opened in 1974 in a singlebuilding near the intersection of John Rodes and Eau Gallie boulevards, the economic conditions on the Space Coast were similar to what they are now.

Now the county is coping with the economic fallout of the ending of the shuttle program. In the early 1970s, it was reeling from the end of the Apollo and Skylab programs. Rockwell Collins felt there was a pool of talented engineers in the area it could to tap into as it grew its avionics department.

Rockwell Collins started in Melbourne with 13 employees and a promise to grow to 300. Today it employs 1,400 locally.

Lee Smith was the 12th person Rockwell Collins hired in Melbourne. General Electric Co. had just laid him off at the Kennedy Space Center because of the ending of the Skylab program.

"The talent was here from the Apollo and Skylab programs," said the 62-year-old Smith, a production control specialist at Rockwell Collins.

What Smith has enjoyed most about his job is the innovation of new technology.

"Every day is a new experience working here," Smith said. "Every day it's different."

The company's Melbourne operation now is spread out over seven buildings. It's main facility is on West Hibiscus Boulevard on property owned by Melbourne International Airport.

Rockwell Collins engineers design, develop and manufacture aviation electronics. Some of the primary products it makes here includes communication, navigation and surveillance equipment, air data computers, automatic direction finders, adaptive flight displays, altitude heading computers, cabin equipment software, control display units, among others.

Richard Dove, a principal electrical engineer and test pilot for Rockwell Collins came to the company in 1979 almost by chance. He had interviewed with Hughes Aircraft, McDonnell Douglas and several others.

A ham radio enthusiast, Dove was very familiar with the contributions of Arthur Collins to radio technology. So when a professor at the University of Florida suddenly announced that Collins Radio Co., was conducting interviews for just one day at UF, Dove jumped at the chance.

About a year after being hired, Dove decided to get his pilots license to help with inflight testing of the avionics. He has been a test pilot for the company for more than 30 years and never regretted working at Rockwell Collins.

"You'll find people tend to stay here a long time," Dove said, "because it's such a good company to work for."

Contact Price at 321-242-3658 or wprice@floridatoday.com.