modifications for Piper aircraft designed by Robin Thomas. These products have been on sale continuously since that time, and have prospered. The original designs were so good, that there have been extremely few changes needed for them to this date, and they continue to offer excellent and trouble-free service.
Unfortunately,
being located in St.Thomas had its drawbacks, and Laminar Flow's success
engendered
imitators which it was unable to combat effectively. Add to that two very
major hurricanes which caused it over $500,000 of property damage, as
well as loss of business, and you can see why it was necessary to move.
The move to Daytona Beach, Florida took place in 1996. Business has multiplied
since then.
ROBIN
THOMAS
Born in Argentina in 1935 son of Donald Thomas, (later to become president
of Lever Brothers International),
Robin was educated in England( M.A. Cambridge University ) and emigrated
to Mexico where he was an extremely
successful businessman in the field of advertising and printing.
Robin
Thomas
Retired
at 31, he became an unpaid employee of the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations
and later moved to Grenada, West Indies to work in fisheries development.
He remained there until the communist
revolution. Robin then moved to St.Thomas, Virgin Islands, where he
became more involved in aviation, and operated
his own air charter service, "Sea Wings Inc."
During
this time, he had earned commercial pilot and A&P mechanic's licences,
and became frustrated with the performance of one of his aircraft, a
Piper Seneca. For almost a year, he tried every imaginable modification
on
this Seneca, settling on a few mods that really worked.
This led to the formation
of Laminar Flow Systems Inc., which has been his sole business until Power
Flow Systems was created in 1997.. Robin is a very keen sailor, and has
also been at the forefront of windsurfer design. He has also designed
a unique "magnus effect" sailing catamaran which he
sails as often as possible on the Intracoastal waterway in Ormond Beach.