Duncan Aviation Completes Large, Multi-Shop Project on Falcon 50

Duncan Aviation recently completed this beautiful, updated Falcon 50 with a 4C inspection, paint, interior refurbishment, and avionics upgrades. Click image for high-res download.

LINCOLN, NEB. — Duncan Aviation is excited to showcase a Falcon 50 that was refurbished at their full-service maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility in Lincoln, Nebraska. The aircraft arrived in need of paint and maintenance due to corrosion and other age-related issues that needed to be addressed for safety concerns. Although the interior was dark and outdated, it was well cared for enough that the Duncan Aviation team was able to retain the existing seats and headliner. After purchasing the aircraft, the owners wanted to make the aircraft their own and modernize it for their specific needs. The first-time Duncan Aviation customer took advantage of the downtime during the 4C inspection and added paint, avionics, and interior upgrades.

“This aircraft arrived in Lincoln for a 4C inspection, which is a massive inspection that includes overhaul of the landing gear, restoration of flight controls, completely removing the interior, and inspecting nearly every part of the structure,” said Project Manager Jennifer Morrill. “During this large maintenance event the customer elected to have Gogo Avance L5 installed. We also added a large interior work scope to spruce up the aircraft for the new owners, as well as new, custom exterior paint.”

A Beautiful Backdrop

The owners elected to add new the carpet, lower sidewalls, countertops, and a divan. When the aircraft input, the Duncan Aviation Sales and Finish team leaders evaluated the cabinets and formulated a plan that helped their schedules and provided a quote to the customer for a complete cabinet hydrographic dip and refinish, which elevated the interior of the aircraft immensely.

Senior Lead Designer Stephanie Kuhn explained that the wood grain hydrographics  serves as beautiful backdrop, complementing the main elements in the scene.

“Having the ability to print the graphics ourselves allows us to customize the color of the wood grain digitally before printing,” she explained. “This capability liberates us from the constraints of traditional veneer species and opens up a world of possibilities in terms of color customization.”

Kuhn describes the interior as “Modern Moody” with a captivating fusion of contemporary design elements that create a space that feels both elegant and enigmatic. All of the existing black leather from the original interior was retained, and served as the foundation for the new design. The main objective was to lighten and soften the overall aesthetic to counterbalance the weightiness of the black leather seats. The leather sidewalls were chosen for its durability, and the owners opted for a lighter shade to create contrast with the seats. They also selected an embossing technique to introduce texture and depth to the leather. The lighter, modern grey plush carpet has subtle accents of black and effectively complement the leather elements in the space.

Kuhn said the owners proved to be exceptional collaborators throughout the project.

“One of the owners is a talented photographer and artist, and demonstrated a remarkable knack for design,” said Kuhn. “This streamlined the material selection process significantly.”

The Finishing Touch

During one of the owner’s visits, Kuhn presented multiple paint scheme options, along with paint samples, for consideration. They took an active role in the decision-making process, and made selections for both the scheme layout and paint colors based off the options she provided.

“The finishing touch was the custom exterior paint scheme complete with a discrete company logo,” said Morrill. “The before and after pictures tell the story more clearly, but it is hard to recognize this aircraft after a few months at the Duncan Aviation facility.”

A Large, Multi-Shop Project

Morrill said she enjoyed having the owners visit the facility multiple times to see the progress and meet with the teams.

“It is always a pleasure to work with customers like this,” said Morrill. “I get an enormous sense of pride to show off the amazing work and coordination that occurs during a large, multi-shop project like this.”

Morrill said one of the most interesting aspects of a large multi-shop project is the scope of team members who end up working on them.

“This is something that is truly unique and special about Duncan Aviation,” said Morrill. “We have men and women who spend their careers honing their skills and become masters of a particular task. The massive effort of coordinating who does what and in what timeframe is a layered effort that reaches from our Schedulers, Hangar Coordinators, Sales, Design, Project Managers, Project Manager Assistants, Team Leaders, Crew Leads, department managers, technicians, Quality, MRTs, and others. Not to mention the feat of sourcing, ordering, delivering parts, and managing the cores of the old parts.”

After large projects, Morrill likes to run a report to find out the number of people who had a hand in the project. She found that more than 321 team members contributed their time to this project, and invested over 10,270 hours.

“These numbers only capture the efforts put in by people directly working on this project and doesn’t represent the efforts put forth by our supporting teams like the Line team, Facilities, Parts Runners who keep the planes moving and the facility safe and clean for these projects to even happen,” said Morrill. “Regardless, this project was a team effort and could not have been possible without the entire team at Duncan Aviation.”

Follow this link to view the before and after video highlighting the transformation: https://duncanaviation.aero/videos/falcon-50-paint-and-interior-refurbishment

About Duncan Aviation

Duncan Aviation is an aircraft service provider supporting the aviation needs of business aircraft operators, government agencies, and other aircraft service providers. Services include major and minor airframe inspections, engine maintenance, major retrofits for cabin and cockpit avionics systems, full paint and interior services, engineering and certification services, fabrication and manufacturing services, and preowned aircraft sales and acquisitions. Duncan Aviation also has international aircraft components solutions experts available 24/7/365 at +1 402.475.4125 who can handle any aircraft system problem with immediate exchanges, rotables, loaners or avionics/instrument/accessory repairs and overhauls. Complete service facilities are located in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Provo, Utah. We also have dozens of other facilities strategically located throughout the United States to provide customers with scheduled regional support and the quickest response possible to avionics, engine and airframe Aircraft On Ground (AOG) situations.

For more information about any of Duncan Aviation’s services, call +1 402.475.2611 or visit https://www.DuncanAviation.aero/services