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Having seen its staff grow by 38 percent over the last two and a half years?from 650 to 900?Provincial Aerospace Limited (PAL) is preparing to deliver on a $370 million contract with the United Arab Emirates: mod- ifications of two maritime patrol air- craft that will patrol UAE territorial waters, monitor pollution, and sup-port search and rescue activities. PAL will deliver the two customized Bombardier Dash-8 Q300 aircraft in the first quarter of 2012. Seated in his St. John?s, Newfoundland office, PAL Vice President Derek Scott said with pride, ?These will be the most sophis- ticated Dash 8?s on the planet.? The UAE government purchased the aircraft and, in February 2009, turned it over to PAL who then designed the refit, selected the tech- nologies that would best meet therequirements, stripped the aircraft down to the metal, installed and test- ed the systems, and trained the UAE government?s pilots and sensor opera- tors. Key components have been pro- vided by a global cast of defense sup- pliers including Thales (France), FLIR (US), Saab Aviatronics, (South Africa), Elettronica (Italy), Rhode and Schwarz (Germany), and Honeywell (UK). PAL opened its doors in 1972 to offer flight training and charter oper- ations in St. John?s, and in 1980, began offering passenger services in Newfoundland which later expanded throughout eastern Canada. Meanwhile, in 1979, the Hibernia oil discovery on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and Labrador high- lighted the threat icebergs posed to the development of this resource. In 1986, PAL met this challenge by 20MTRNovember/December 2011View from St. John?s The Sky?s the Limit @ PAL by Andrew Safer Photo Courtesy Provincial Aerospace Ltd. MTR#9 (18-33):MTR Layouts 11/28/2011 9:41 AM Page 20