The aerospace and offshore oil & gas industries have a long history of mutual support in Newfoundland and Labrador. One prominent example is St. John’s based PAL Aerospace, which has grown alongside the offshore oil and gas industry and become a global leader in the aerospace and defence sector.
PAL Aerospace’s involvement with the oil & gas industry can be traced back to its initial ice surveillance flights in the early 1980s working with Mobil Oil and Husky Bow Valley. As the offshore industry expanded and grew, the requirement for detailed, quality ice surveillance data grew with it. In the wake of the Ocean Ranger disaster, safety requirements pertaining to ice response were introduced and PAL Aerospace innovated to address this challenge by repurposing military anti-submarine technology to provide reliable ice surveillance.
“The experience PAL Aerospace gained in offshore ice surveillance has been critical in catapulting our company onto the world stage for maritime surveillance,” said Stephen Dinn, Vice President of Business Development for PAL Aerospace. “The offshore industry gave us an opportunity to develop new technologies, refine innovative practices and become global leaders in the fields of ice management and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
PAL Aerospace redeployed knowledge and capabilities originally developed to support the industry and diversified to become a full-service maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance provider specializing in sovereignty protection, search and rescue, maritime security, environmental management, pollution detection and monitoring, drug interdiction and smuggling, customs and immigration patrol, disaster relief and general law enforcement.
PAL Aerospace has successfully used the experience gained in offshore operations and become an industry leader that now exports services and technology all over the world. The company has never forgotten just how important the offshore industry is to their business and remains committed to supporting the industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, across Canada, and internationally.
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Source: Noia | Issued June 17, 2020
