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PERCEPTIONS

Dick Swingen, President

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our 1999 Top Ten Dealers, our Top International Dealer and our Top Kit Plane Manufacturer. (see list) We appreciate all your hard work.

In 1999 S-TEC joined the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). We would like to share with you some revealing statistics that came from the GAMA 2000 Annual Industry Review.

• 1999 industry sales were up 35.1% to 7.9 billion.
• Industry shipments of new aircraft up 14.7% to 2,525 aircraft.
  • SE Piston up 13.9% to 1635 aircraft
  • ME Piston up 14.3% to 112 aircraft
  • Turboprops down 2.6% to 264 aircraft
  • Turbofan up 23.9% to 514 aircraft
• Used SE & ME Piston prices up 10%
• 70 % of all 27 million general aviation hours flown in '99 were for business or commercial purposes
• The number of pilots continues to grow
  • Student starts up 14% from '96
  • 5% more private pilots in '99
  • 3% more instrument ratings in '99
• Corporate Flight Departments up 6.6%

In parallel with the tremendous industry growth, 1999 proved to be a very successful year for S-TEC, achieving record sales in December, and for the year. As we began the New Year, our sales continued to rise with January setting a new sales record and February's sales exceeded those of January.

There is every indication that this upward trend will continue, and we need to increase our capacity dramatically. We have added over thirty people to operations since the start of 2000, and we will bring additional staff at the rate needed to meet our committment to our customers. We are focusing a major effort on ways to reduce production and delivery times so that our customers can receive our products in a timely manner.

S-TEC is expecting an excellent year and with your support, I know that 2000 will turn out to be a great year for both of us. I look forward to seeing many of you at our Dealer Appreciation Breakfast at the AEA Convention this year in Reno.