Bob and Flo with their Navion Rangemaster.
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. has a rich history, and quite possibly, some aspects of the wide-ranging parts specialist aren’t well known. Post-Oshkosh, I had the chance to have a call with Jim Irwin, the second-generation caretaker of Aircraft Spruce.
It was 1956 when Flo and Bob Irwin started Fullerton Air Parts at the Fullerton Municipal Airport in Southern California. For nine years, Fullerton Air Parts became one of the western United States’ largest retailers of aircraft parts supplies. The Irwins sold the business in 1965; however, they immediately realized another opportunity to serve aviators within the same industry. They founded Aircraft Spruce Co., a supplier of aviation-grade spruce lumber for aircraft builders.
As they continued adding specialty parts to their new business’s catalog, they felt a new name could better describe the burgeoning operation, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. was born. Nowadays, Jim, Flo and Bob’s son, runs the business. He acquired the company in 1970 after graduating with a marketing degree from Cal State Fullerton. Jim and his wife, Nanci, are both experienced pilots, and they’re deep into preparing the third generation of Irwins to take over sometime in the future. All three of their sons are pilots and work in the family business.
Mike Irwin, the oldest son, is vice president of procurement; Jeff, in the middle, is vice president of operations; and Rob, the youngest, is now the vice president of marketing. They all adhere to and maintain the mission statement tenets of Aircraft Spruce:
- Satisfying customers and giving the best experience possible.
- Quickly fulfilling orders (same day usually).
- Competitive pricing.
In Jim’s words, the goal is simple. “We just want to do everything we can to satisfy our customers through ease-of-purchase, whether online, on the phone, or in person, with competitive prices.”
Lance Phillips: Jim, I appreciate the time you can spend telling the Twin & Turbine readers a few things they might not know about Aircraft Spruce and your family. First, congratulations on the recent Freedom of Flight Award presented by Jack Pelton at the 2023 EAA AirVenture. You’re now in rarified air with Burt Rutan, Neil Armstrong and Steve Wittman. How does an award like this translate into your family business, and what does it mean for your customers?
Jim Irwin: It was quite an honor to receive the Freedom of Flight Award from Jack Pelton. It’s one of EAA’s most prestigious awards, and for the family and the business to be recognized for integrity, entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the years, started by my mom and dad, is pretty special. It was unexpected.
Two years ago, I accepted the EAA’s Homebuilders Hall of Fame Award for my late parents. You’ll hopefully be recognized if you’ve been in this business long enough and do a pretty good job. And we want to continue to conduct our business on the principles they started, and my sons buy into that philosophy, too. If we can do that and keep our customers happy, we’ll continue to be successful.
LP: That is phenomenal. Congratulations to your whole family for those awards. Next topic: your website mentions that you recently implemented a newly expanded order history search function. Is that something you and your wife Nanci worked on, or was that left to the younger generation?
JI: Oh, that was definitely not Nanci or me. We’re pretty old school. Our three sons are the innovative ones. Rob, our youngest, the marketing vice president, and his team implemented the search expansion and other usability updates to our website. That’s just one example; they’re working on it, improving it all the time. They aim to make it as simple and intuitive as possible for our customers to order online.
LP: I noticed an update listing Leading Edge Avionics as an affiliate avionics shop. How many affiliates do you have?
JI: Leading Edge Avionics is the only one. They’re based at Chino airport, very close to us, and they handle warranty issues and things like that. We are a dealer for multiple avionics manufacturers, and since we don’t have an avionics shop, we partner with Leading Edge. We had partnered with Advanced Avionics in the same location for 25 years or so, and they sold last year to Leading
Edge, who then took over the affiliate relationship.
LP: You have a pretty robust show and event schedule. Does Rob count on those shows to meet retail sales goals only, or are they an opportunity for you to promote the brand and increase company awareness?
JI: Both, really. We take a lot of product to AirVenture and Sun N Fun, our two biggest shows. We sell a lot of product there and also take orders for shipping. Those are selling shows. But brand awareness and seeing our customers face-to-face is extremely important. We have been building those relationships for many years. I attended my first EAA convention in Rockford, IL, in 1967, and we’ve been going ever since.
LP: Let’s talk about airplanes. You have a beautiful Cessna Conquest I. How long have you had it, and have you done any significant upgrades to it through the years?
JI: I’ve been flying since 1976 and have gone from an old Navion Rangemaster I shared with my dad to owning a Cessna 210. I had that for ten years; then, I had a Cessna 340 for five years. After that, I jumped into the big Cessna twins with a 421 for three years. That’s when the Conquest came around. I bought N425WT in 2000, so I’ve had it for 23 years. You can see the progression, I’ve been a loyal Cessna guy all the way, and the Conquest has done everything I expected. It’s easy to fly and has been reliable for all those years.
We upgraded the engines to Blackhawk 135s in 2009, a great addition. We have upgraded the avionics a few times. Right now, we have a Garmin GTN 750 and a 650. Other than that, it has just been a super reliable airplane. DeBritton Aviation in Chino handles maintenance. They’ve done it all these years. I generally fly 130 to 150 hours per year.
LP: What are your thoughts on jumping into the turbofan world, maybe a small Citation down the line?
JI: My sons keep asking me: Don’t you want to fly a Jet? I say for my mission, for what I do, I am comfortable in the Conquest; it does what I want it to do, and I can afford to get somewhere half an hour later than a jet. I don’t think I would move to a jet, but I guess you never know. But I really do love the Conquest.
LP: What else would you like to get across to the Twin & Turbine readers?
JI: I love the magazine. There’s always something of interest and value in Twin & Turbine.
A lot of people might have the perception that Aircraft Spruce is what we were 50 years ago—the homebuilt supplier that sold kits and maybe a few small general aviation products. Today, we carry products for twins, turboprops and light jets. We have batteries, tires, ignitors, wheels and brakes, too. Much of our current product line applies to that end of the market. We’re here and ready to serve.
It has been a dream career for me to spend my life in general aviation. To be in this business has been great for the family, and we look forward to the third generation continuing as we move forward.
LP: Thanks so much for spending time with me, Jim, and I look forward to seeing you at the shows.
