Unexpected and very humbling

Innovation is one of the Key Strengths of small business, whether that's in India or Invercargill. Small businesses have advantages in some respects when it comes to innovation, because being small means you are nimble, and while you might not get any encouragement or funding from Government to come up with great ideas, because you are small and independent you can pick your projects if you research your field well.

Those who know Flight GSE know that we pride ourselves on our inventiveness, and do this from a customer-centric viewpoint. We seek to understand the issues our clients have, then come up with solutions that suit that client. Just because we're a small firm from the bottom of the world, it doesn't mean we can't have the ambition or lack the drive to create products of global significance. We may never have a huge brand name, but we want the reputation we carve to be a good one.

We have a inbuilt advantage in that we have our No. 8 Wire creed to fall back on. This is because our inventive and creative farmers were said to be able to fix anything with a piece of No. 8 wire. For us, we're pleased that we can create excellent Aviation Ground Support Equipment for the industry that we live and breath, and we proudly source as much as possible for our products locally.

One of our heroes in Kiwi Aviation is Richard Pearse. He built and flew his aircraft at the time of the Wright Brothers. He would never claim he made successful powered flights, because while he mastered takeoff, come landing there always seemed to be a gorse or pine hedge in the way. That said, he was a visionary - he built his own horizontally opposed engine that apparently had about the best power to weight ratio in the world at the time. And his aircraft was full of other inventions such as a tricycle under carriage, tractor propeller and steering by rudder and aileron; innovations that were years ahead of their time.

We celebrate Richard Pearse in Aviation in New Zealand by the bestowing of the Richard Pearse Trophy to companies who show that same innovative spirit. At the Aviation New Zealand Gala Dinner and Awards Night last Tuesday two Richard Pearse Awards were given out. One of these, so totally unexpected, and so very humbling was to myself and our small team at Flight GSE Ltd ... For once I was very much lost for words.

We love this industry and were absolutely delighted to be recognised by our peers in this manner. On behalf of the team here, to all those in the Aviation Industry in New Zealand, and to our customers here, in the Pacific and across Australia we give our grateful thanks.