Vibratech, Inc. appeals from the trial court’s denial of its motion to dismiss and its motion to open default in this action involving five consolidated aviation wrongful death cases and one aviation property case. For the reasons cited below, we affirm. This lawsuit arises out of the crash of a Cessna twin engine aircraft in the vicinity of Apison, Tennessee on December 2, 2004, resulting in the death of the pilot and four passengers. The aircraft was owned by the Georgia Cumberland Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists GCCSA. The GCCSA and the estates of the five decedents filed these lawsuits in Gwinnett County against multiple defendants including Vibratech. The plaintiffs allege that Vibratech negligently manufactured the plane’s viscous damper, a mechanism designed to reduce engine vibration, which was installed in the aircraft’s left engine.
Vibratech was a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Alden, New York, but is now defunct, with no officers, directors or employees. The corporation filed for bankruptcy protection on July 18, 2003, approximately 18 months before the accident. The company never maintained a certificate of authority to conduct business in the State of Georgia and did not carry out business operations in the state. Vibratech sold the damper at issue in this case to Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc. TCM, a Delaware company with its principal place of business in Mobile, Alabama. Vibratech sold the damper “FOB Seller’s Plant” in Alden New York, and TCM installed the damper in a rebuilt Cessna engine. The GCCSA purchased the engine through Air Power, Inc., a third-party Texas company, on April 9, 2001. TCM shipped the engine at Air Power’s instruction to L & M Aircraft in Rome, Georgia for installation in GCCSA’s airplane.
