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PRZOOM - /newswire/ -
Falmouth, MA, United States, 2007/10/16 - YourPilotStore.com, a leading aviation online shop catering to pilots and aircraft technicians worldwide from Cape Cod, Mass., has announced the launch of a new website - YourPilotStore.com / Cape-Cod-Ecommerce.org.
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The re-designed Internet store marks a new stage in a unique ecommerce success story on Cape Cod, where the seasonal, tourism-based economy is rapidly shifting, towards often home-based, year-round, sometimes globally operating online businesses, many of them run by members of the Baby Boomers generation.
Falmouth-based YourPilotstore.com, which offers specialized pilot supplies and aviation equipment for aviators, flight instructors, aircraft mechanics and flight engineers, was started in 2002 on the Internet auction and shopping site eBay by Paul Vitale, a semi-retired East Falmouth resident, avid pilot and aircraft industry veteran.
Many airport-based "brick-and-mortar" pilot shops went out of business after 9/11. With the rebound of commercial and general aviation over the past years, Vitale's store on eBay gained a global reputation in the tight-knit community of commercial and private pilots as a leading supplier of aviation products and equipment.
The specialty retailer, which started as an eBay store for high-end aviator sunglasses, today offers more than 800 products, from aircraft engine air filters to special adapters for helicopter pilot headsets. YourPilotStore.com sells exclusively online and is operated out of an home office at Falmouth Airpark.
The new YourPilotStore.com website had to to be set up on industry-strength Internet server computers in Texas, due to the high volume of online transactions and to circumvent bandwidth limitations on Cape Cod. Locally, Vitale profited from the expertise of fellow members at the Cape Cod eCommerce Association, he said. The organization, whose members meet one a month, promotes knowledge-sharing and networking among online business owners on Cape Cod and the Islands.
"Pilots, instructors and mechanics demand reliable, high-quality products and service - and they want it fast, too," said Vitale. "The new website was created with their needs in mind."
The retiree-turned e-commerce entrepreneur is anything but your stereotypical Internet nerd. Vitale has been involved in aviation since the Vietnam War, when he served as a crew chief of a UH1 helicopter. After the war, he earned his aircraft mechanic certification and worked as an aircraft mechanic for several large airlines and aircraft maintenance companies.
"Pilots take pride in being very well organized," said Vitale. "With YourPilotStore.com, I aim to provide them with a high-quality, quick and efficient shopping experience."
Asked what he thinks the secret is behind the success of his booming Internet store, Vitale said: "I run my online business based on the same motto I had when I was a helicopter crew chief.
"A good crew chief never comes up short."
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info[.]cape-cod-ecommerce.org 
