Hush kits developed by Stage III Technologies for Rolls-Royce Spey-powered Gulfstreams are back with a new name and a new company. Yesterday at Van Nuys Airport in California, Hush Kit LLC, an affiliate of Hubbard Broadcasting of Minneapolis, flew the first production Stage III hush kit installed on a Gulfstream II (N20H), also owned by Hubbard, in preparation for the product’s debut at the NBAA Convention in Orlando, Fla., early next month. Stage III Technologies of La Jolla, Calif., ceased operations on February 8 after running out of money and lacking an airplane to use as a sales vehicle. In stepped one of Stage III’s investors, Stanley Hubbard, chairman, CEO and president of Hubbard Broadcasting, who bought the STC and patents and hired Todd Stimmel, former president and CEO of Stage III. “We’re in the process of setting up a corporate structure to produce the hush kit,” Hubbard told AIN. Western Jet Aviation, a long-time Gulfstream maintenance center at Van Nuys, installed the hush kits on N20H in eight weeks. Stimmel said normal installation should take about five weeks. The Hush Kit Aviation (Stage III) hush kit contains no moving parts and includes a 10-lobe mixer nozzle coupled with an acoustically lined ejector and cascade-style thrust reversers, which replace the original clamshell thrust reversers on the Speys. Hubbard said additional research on the cost of production and installation is needed before the company can set a price for the kit. The Stage III Technologies design received FAA certification for the Gulfstream II, IIB and III in May 2005.