AAI Distribution is family owned and operated.  Our home office is in Burnsville, MN., just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  All of our shipping is done from Owatonna, MN., in the southeastern part of the state.

In 1990, Don McDonald retired from Northwestern Bell after 26 years of service to the company.  He was 44 years old.   Always an avid fan of aviation, Don and a buddy came up with a small company they called Alpha Aviation.  This was located in the tiniest of buildings on Fleming Field in South St. Paul, MN.  This business grew from one airplane and one instructor to something quite a bit larger in a mere few years.  Alpha need to find a bigger space.  As luck would have it, there was space available right at Fleming Field, so the move was not far.  Now Alpha Aviation consisted of a fleet of planes and instructors, laser grade testing, pilot supplies, and a ton of friends.  In 1995, Don needed a set of jacks for one of the planes, and being handy as he is, built as set for himself.  The rest is history.  As  people on the field saw these jacks, they started asking him to built sets for them.  One small advertisement in a well known trade magazine, and the jacks were selling world-wide.

In 1999, Don sold the Flight School part of Alpha Aviation, Inc., and moved the jack business down to his Private hangar.  There the jack business continued to flourish.

In 2001 we became a Master Distributor of Inspection Scopes.  We began with ProVision and later added Visual Optics , a company born out of ProVision, as our main line.

Alpha Aviation, Inc. still exists.  We still sell the aircraft jacks, and in 2005 we added a line of STC'd and OEM Replacement Shoulder Harnesses to our product line.

Don & Sue have 3 daughters, Paula, Dawn & Christine, who have all, at one time worked for Alpha Aviation/AAI Distribution.  Currently the business is operated by Don, Paula & Sue while Dawn & Christine are pursuing other business opportunities.  We joke about the "family curse": Hard work and 1st Class Customer Service.

What you can expect from AAI Distribution...

• ALL phone calls, emails & faxes are returned in a timely manner if we are not right there to receive  them.
  
• No numbers to push to get to the right person!!  We are customer friendly!
  
• We do our best to keep a full inventory of product so you do not have to wait. 
  
• Most orders ship same day or the next.  If an item is not in stock, we let you know immediately and do our best to get it for you quickly.
  
• We have no problem drop shipping orders to your customers.
  
• International Orders are Welcome.
  
• We deal with the factory so you don't have to.
  
• Our customers are our friends.