After this Falcon 50’s pre-purchase evaluation was completed at our Battle Creek, Michigan, facility, the Duncan Aviation team immediately began the transformation process, harnessing our in-house capabilities to give the customer the fully customized aircraft they desired. While in-house, the aircraft received new exterior paint, full interior refurbishment, aft cabin reconfiguration with new divan installation, avionics upgrades, winglets, and LED lighting.
The first-time customer told Senior Completions & Modifications Sales Rep Tiffany Buschini that they had heard about the quality of work Duncan Aviation provides and the reputation the company has, and that they didn’t want to take the aircraft anywhere else.
As part of the refurbishment, the owners wanted to add a divan. To meet their request, we removed the existing right-hand aft single seats, and installed a right-hand, three-place divan. We also replaced the pull-up jumpseat with a side-facing jumpseat to create a more comfortable and enjoyable experience for the flight attendant. This also creates more space for the crew to get in and out of the flight deck when someone is seated in the jumpseat.
Tiffany explained that the interior wasn’t necessarily in poor condition when it arrived at the Duncan Aviation facility, but the new owners wanted a complete refresh, and wanted to personalize it to fit their tastes. The result is a modern and striking interior that has a few unique additions.
One of the unique aspects of the interior are the cupholders and galley inserts that our team designed and customized to hold handmade pottery mugs that the owner’s friend creates.
“Our Cabinet Shop built a custom-fit insert to store these mugs in a galley drawer,” says Designer Jack Bauder. “We also created the concept for a multi-level cupholder, which can accommodate both these mugs or highball glasses in a single unit.”
The Duncan Aviation Engineering team developed the measurements and drawings for production, which Duncan Aviation’s Duncan Manufacturing Solutions team then produced in-house.
The new, custom, one-off cupholders were installed throughout the cabin and include a specific spot to put the passengers’ lowball whiskey glasses and highball glasses.
“This is just another example of how Duncan Aviation can harness our in-house capabilities to fit our customers’ specific needs,” says Tiffany.
The team also made modifications to the interior by removing the existing mirrors and trim in the lav and adding custom light covers to give it a more modern look. The new LED lighting makes the area brighter and more contemporary.
The aircraft also features two-tone seats with diamond-patterned, quilted inserts that were completed using an automated CNC machine.
All of the cabinetry in the cabin was treated with hydrographic finishes and new, one-piece modern Duncan Aviation-designed PSU (Passenger Service Unit) panels were installed.
In addition, the aircraft received a much-needed avionics upgrade, including a Collins Aerospace Pro Line 21 Integrated Avionics System and FANS-1/A (Future Air Navigation System 1/A) w/ATN-B1 CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications).
Senior Avionics Sales Rep Mike Morgan explains that this was the first time Duncan Aviation installed the Collins CMU-4000+ CMU for FANS-1/A & ATN-B1 with the Pro Line 21 system into a Falcon 50EX.
“Dassault was working on a CMU-4000+ STC for this installation, and it was proposed to use this project as the conforming aircraft,” says Mike.
Mike also explained that the new owner had concerns about the serviceability of the outdated CMS (Cabin Management System). To mitigate these concerns, the team installed the Alto Cadence CMS.
The aircraft also received a new Collins Aerospace Synthetic Vision System.
During the process of quoting new LED lighting, the Duncan Aviation team was approached by ALI (Aircraft Lighting International) about installing their new multicolored LED Lighting system. The customer was receptive, making this the first time the ALI multi-colored LED Lighting system was installed in an aircraft at Duncan Aviation.