Warranty Reserves

12 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2017

Warranty Reserves

Warranty Reserves

9.           Warranty Reserves

Warranty reserve activity is summarized as follows:

	April 30,
	2017		2016
	(In thousands)
Beginning balance	$	4,134	$	2,653
Warranty expense		1,428		4,516
Changes in estimates related to pre-existing warranties		1,651		(424)
Warranty costs settled		(3,982)		(2,611)
Ending balance	$	3,231	$	4,134

During the fiscal year ended April 30, 2017, the Company revised its estimates based on the results of additional engineering studies and recorded incremental warranty reserve charges totaling $1,651,000, related to the estimated costs to repair a component of certain small UAS that were delivered in prior periods. At April 30, 2017, the total remaining warranty reserve related to the estimated costs to repair the impacted UAS was $441,000. As of April 30, 2017 a total of $1,762,000 of costs related to this warranty have been incurred. The impact to net income attributable to AeroVironment and diluted earnings per share of the change in estimate was approximately $(1,034,000) and $(0.04), respectively.