TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Vendors Hope Products Take Flight

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Michele McGuire, owner and designer of Mutt Muffs, exhibits her hearing protection for animals at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring.

ADVERTISEMENT

By BILL ROGERS

Highlands Today

Published: January 25, 2009

SEBRING - Light sport aircraft are featured in the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, but the event also has vendors pitching other products including sports bifocals and aircraft cleaner and belly wash.

At this year's expo, for the first time, there is a product just for the four-legged flyer - Mutt Muffs.

Mutt Muffs offer hearing protection for dogs. The head gear comes in five sizes - from extra small to extra large - according to Michele McGuire, founder and CEO of Safe and Sound Pets.

The four-year-old company, based in Westminster, Md., also sells other things.

"We have all kinds of travel products for the discriminating canine aviator," McGuire said.

"We have the bandanas and little travel bowls. The squeaky toys just can't be beat. "We have airplanes, helicopters and fighter jets."

McGuire said a surprising number of people fly with their dogs.

She explained that she started flying with her dog and noticed the noise in the cockpit was quite loud.

"A dog's hearing is much more sensitive than a person's," McGuire said. "You wouldn't want to fly around like that. I started on this quest to find something for the dog in a plane. There wasn't (anything).

"So I did like any other red-blooded American, I figured I would make something for my dog."

The head gear can be used for search and rescue dogs as well as service dogs.

McGuire, who was working in her booth Friday with Cheri Henke, is one of more than 170 vendors displaying their wares at the fifth expo at Sebring Regional Airport.

"It's a beautiful show," she said. "This is concentrated on the light sport expo. These folks do come to Oshkosh and Sun 'n Fun (in Lakeland), but here we're probably seeing a different crowd of people than you would necessarily at the other shows. There is some overlap, but we're seeing new people."

McGuire didn't mind the cold weather Thursday.

"We had ordered higher temperatures, and it didn't come through," McGuire said." We left 20-degree weather and snow, so this is still way better - way better. Florida in January is never a bad thing."

McGuire said she is planning to return to Sebring next year. She noted that she has been to small regional shows that have turned out not be the right venue.

"The people that are coming here are coming here to look at the exhibits, talk to the vendors, check out the new aircraft and attend the forums," she said. "This is where we belong. I'm very pleased."

Another newcomer to the expo is Ken Faire, vice president of Desser Tire and Rubber Co., which is based in California.

"We started producing tires made specifically for light sport aircraft," Faire said. "We wanted to come down here and talk to a lot of the (manufacturers) displaying their aircraft and show them the new tires that we have."

A lot of the tires that were actually specified for the LSA two, three and four years ago came with wheel barrow or farm implement type tires, according to Faire. There might be some aircraft at the expo with "stuff that you would see on your tractor," he said.

"What we did is we 'speced' the same sizes, but we put an aircraft tread on it... to make it wear better," he added.

"It's a good venue - easy access," he said of the expo. "It looks like all the manufacturers are here.

"I see a lot more vendors selling nonaviation-related products in this one, which is fine," Faire said.

Carol Vandervliet with Aviation Homes and Land Inc. in Fort Myers said traffic was slow Thursday, noting "it was very, very cold." But Vandervliet was expecting a bigger turnout during the weekend.

"Last year the show here was busier than Sun 'n Fun," Vandervliet said.

A real estate broker, Vandervliet said her business is a marketing company that deals exclusively with aviation properties. They market all over the country and the world if a client wants that.

"We have a marketing fee, and we charge a referral fee if we supply the buyer," she said. "The seller retains the opportunity to sell it on their own."

The expo, which began Thursday, will conclude today at the airport.

Bill Rogers may be reached at 863-386-5825 or wrogers@highlandstoday.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT