Home Grown

GippsAero’s utilitarian elegance

Driving towards the Latrobe Regional Airport, you could easily be forgiven for missing the turn and driving past the home of GippsAero, as this operation is more about substance than show, a trait that translates into its ever-growing line of functional aeroplanes that are spreading across the globe.

Gippsland Aeronautics, as GippsAero was originally known, came into being as far back as 1977 as an aircraft maintenance and modification business under the ownership of Peter Furlong. He was joined by George Morgan in 1984 and together the two responded to the call for a new agricultural aircraft with better lifting and handling capabilities. The GA200 ‘Fatman’ was born from this demand and went onto a production run of 50 aircraft that are still fully supported today.