Huntsville’s evolution as an aerospace and technology hub took another step forward with the opening of Avilution‘s newest facility on the Huntsville International Airport campus.

Formerly situated in a corporate airplane hangar at the airport, the aviation technology company Avilution now resides in a spacious, cutting-edge standalone facility nearby with a 6,000 square foot office and an attached 7,000 square foot hangar.

Port of Huntsville CEO Rick Tucker introduced the crowd to Avilution founder and eXtensible Flight System (XFS) Architect Mark Spencer. Spencer began as the founder of Digium in Huntsville and the creator of the Asterisk open source telephony platform, where he changed the communications technology industry.

Spencer later learned to fly and, after catching the aviation bug, he moved into the avionics field where he then began to change aviation. Tucker cited Spencer’s passion for technology and avionics, adding “It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t know what can’t be done.”

Spencer described his company as operating in a similar manner as HudsonAlpha, which brings biotechnology research together with biotech startups to advance new science and products more quickly.

Avilution’s extensive flight system “provides a unique place to bring new aviation ideas and integrate them in both a laboratory environment as well as our flying test bed in order to rapidly make them available to aviation customers.”

Spencer stated that the “sweet spot” at Avilution is where “requirements are unusual, changing, or not fully known, a corner of the market that no existing players want to be a part of.”

Mayor Tommy Battle, Chairman Dale Strong of the Madison County Commission, and President and CEO Chip Cherry of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce also spoke. Battle remarked that “this is an added piece to the portfolio of what Huntsville is all about and it makes me proud to be a part of this city.”

Avilution founder Mark Spencer giving a tour to Huntsville/Madison County Chamber President and CEO Chip Cherry and Huntsville City Mayor Tommy Battle

Strong proclaimed Avilution’s expansion to be a testimony for the community.

Following the festivities, Spencer led the attendees on a tour of the new facility, pointing out its glass-topped conference table built from the engine cowling of a DC-9 aircraft.

Spencer’s upstairs office overlooks the terminal and control tower so that “we can see why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

The centerpiece of the lobby is a KR-2 aircraft hanging from the ceiling, visible from the upstairs open workspace and the lobby’s spiral staircase.

Spencer recognized general contractor Pearce Construction, praising him for completing the project on budget despite the difficulties of the pandemic. The building itself is unique in that it was pre-engineered, designed to be economically innovative while presenting in an attractive manner.

During Spencer’s speech, a jet took off on the runway behind the hangars. Pausing until the roars subsided, Spencer laughed and quipped “That doesn’t get old.”