Av-DEC® was co-founded in 1997 by two engineers in Fort Worth, TX. The company began by working closely with a commercial airline to develop solutions for its worst corrosion problems. Av-DEC® was faced with the challenge of developing solutions for corrosion at the antenna and fuselage matting surfaces, between the deck angles and floorboards, along with redesigning the MD80 trail edge wing wire harnesses to eliminate corrosion of connectors and contacts.
Av-DEC® continued to work closely with several more airlines to develop and test the corrosion preventative antenna gaskets and floorboard tapes. The gaskets and tapes had great success in laboratory testing and were praised by the maintenance personal for their ease of application, reduced labor, corrosion prevention and several other benefits on field tested aircraft.
The antenna gaskets were approved for flight in 1998 and floorboard tapes were approved in May of 1999. After approval in the commercial airline industry, Av-DEC® antenna gaskets and tapes were introduced to the United States Air Force and United States Coast Guard early in 2000. Patrick AFB and the USCG in Elizabeth City, NC both field tested the gaskets on their aircraft. These tests were both highly successful and lead to Av-DEC® materials gaining approval from all military services. Implementation of Av-DEC's® materials began in 2001 on USCG aircraft and they are currently realizing the projected return on investment of these products as the outfitted aircraft return to the DEPOT.
The outstanding performance of theses gaskets and floorboard tapes lead the military aircraft engineers to ask Av-DEC® to develop other products. Av-DEC's® materials are approved by all services in the General Series technical orders (manuals). Av-DEC's® products are currently approved, or mandated, on 40 plus different aircraft across all the services and are in the approval process for many more. The many positive published reports and articles by the services aviation divisions have opened new doors in areas such as the Naval surface and Army ground vehicle fleets adding to the expected growth with all services on a wide variety of equipment.