TQ Has Big Plans for North American Avionics Market

You might not have heard of TQ Aircraft Electronics, the avionics firm with the catchy tagline “Undeniably German,” but you’ll be hearing plenty from the company soon enough.

TQ has launched its first two product lines for the general aviation market, the KRT2 family of radios and KTX2 ADS-B transponder, with many more products to follow, the company promises. TQ hopes to capitalize on a reputation for German quality and advanced engineering.

Just because most pilots have never heard of TQ, that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t been involved in aviation. Quite the opposite, since its creation in 1994 in a barn in Germany with just one employee and two founders, TQ Group has grown to become a major supplier of electronics and anti-collision lighting products for Airbus, Boeing and Embraer.

Based in Seefeld, Germany, near Munich, the company today has 1,650 employees at 14 locations in Germany, China and North America.

FAA certification of TQ’s Mode S ADS-B transponder is complete and an AML STC covering more than 500 aircraft model is expected next month. The unit will retail for $1,760. The KRT2 transceiver is FAA-certified and will be available in a number of configurations. It retails for $1,080.

TQ’s GA products are being distributed by Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics in Wichita, Kansas, and Gulf Coast Avionics and Sarasota Avionics.

TQ is exhibiting this week at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in Hangar B, Spaces 2106 and 2107.