The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

Business aircraft operators in the United States have less than 35 months remaining to equip the entire fleet with ADS-B Out avionics equipment. That means from now until the mandate deadline, roughly 167 aircraft per month will need to find available hangar space and qualified technicians.

January 1, 2020 seems like a long way off, but if you remember previous FAA mandates the industry experienced huge backlogs because there simply was not enough hangar space to accommodate the rush of owner/operators who needed to get their aircraft into complaince. Remember the scheduling difficulties with RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum)? You don’t? Refresh your memory here. (Remembering the RVSM Crunch)

If you wait too long, the installation prices will increase, based on simple supply and demand, and you run the risk of not finding a shop qualified to complete the upgrades and installations.

Avoid The Scheduling Crunch

If you are not yet ready for the required upgrades, but don’t want to get caught up in the mad rush to find available capacity at certified service centers, we are offering an ADS-B Slot Program

The Duncan Aviation ADS-B Splot Program allows you to buy a slot to reserve a confirmed date and hangar space for your aircraft at one of our Satellite Avionics Shops. The deposit will will applied to the ADS-B installation when you arrive.

By scheduling now, you will see better pricing, have easier access to the certified transponders and GPS sensors, and find time for the upgrade/installation that fits your flight schedule and calendar.

Contact the Duncan Aviation Satellite Shop (www.duncanaviation.aero/locations/#satellites) nearest you, one of our Duncan Aviation Avionics Installation Team Members (www.DuncanAviation.aero/services/avionics-installation/contacts), or call +1 402.475.2611 for more information about ADS-B upgrades and the new slot reservation program.

ADS-B Myth Busting

ADS-B Myth #1: There Is Plenty Of Time

ADS-B #2: The Deadline WIll Be Extended

ADS-B Myth #3: The Prices Will Drop

ADS-B Myth #4: We’re Going To Sell Our Aircraft Anyway

ADS-B Myth #5: I Don’t Need ADS-B

 Still need more information?

Today, Duncan Aviation opens a new office at the San Antonio International Airport in Texas. In an effort to position our skilled avionics technician in closer proximity to customers, Greg Ashpaugh, is moving to San Antonio and will be the Manager of the new work-away location.

“Over the years, numerous customers have asked us to consider a work-away location in San Antonio,” says Matt Nelson, Manager of Satellite Operations. “After assessing the city and airport, we agree that San Antonio is a great place for a Duncan Aviation technician. Not only does the mix of aircraft based at that airport closely match our business model, but also the city of San Antonio is attractive because of its strong, diverse economic base.”

Greg Ashpaugh, San Antonio Manager

Greg—until recently Crew-Lead at the Dallas satellite avionics facility—is looking forward to working on customers’ aircraft in and around San Antonio. While working as an aircraft engine mechanic on E-2 Hawkeyes and C-2 Greyhounds in the US Navy for six years, Greg earned his A&P license at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics in Oakland, California.

After his service, Greg worked at various avionics shops in the Dallas area before hiring on at the Duncan Aviation Dallas Satellite avionics facility 13 years ago.

“In addition to really liking what I do, I think Duncan Aviation is a great place to work,” says Greg. “The company takes care of us, and it has been very, very good to me.”

From the Dallas Satellite facility, Greg traveled to work on aircraft in San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth in Texas, as well as to New Orleans, Louisiana. He anticipates that he’ll continue to travel from his new work-away location. “We’re here for our customers, wherever here is,” says Greg.

Located on the southeast side of the San Antonio International Airport, the new office will let Greg focus on line maintenance, AOG, and small install work.

“We’re easing into this new work-away location,” says Matt, “And we’ll hire additional team members as customer needs and response requires.”

Duncan Aviation's Avionics Satellite shops are strategically based at more than 25 business aviation airports across the United States. Each location is interdependent, sharing staff and resources to support customers anywhere they land, live or hangar their aircraft.

For more inforamation, download the Satellite Avioincs fact sheet. 

In the USAF (United States Air Force), Bob Hazy frequently flew into Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado and knew he’d eventually like to live in the state. He also knew from his dealings with Duncan Aviation, that it was an upstanding company that conducted business with integrity. He could see himself working there after retiring from the USAF.

Once he retired in 1998, however, Bob initially went to work for an aviation company in Wichita.

“In the Air Force, I worked on avionics, so after retiring, I started working as an avionics technician at an avionics shop in Wichita,” says Bob.

Within two years, he was working for Duncan Aviation at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, avionics satellite facility. While working with Dave Molsberry, the shop frequently had a surplus of work, so techs from Duncan Aviation’s Denver facility helped out in Florida. 

When a position opened at the Denver facility in 2004, Bob left the sun and sand of Florida behind and moved his family to Denver. He worked for Matt Nelson, who was manager of the Denver shop at the time. When Matt was promoted to Manager of Satellite Operations in 2008, Bob took over as Manager of the Duncan Aviation Denver satellite avionics facility.

Bob’s opinion of the company hasn’t changed much in the 16 years he’s worked for Duncan Aviation.

“It’s a great company to work for, and we have an incredible mix of people here in Denver,” says Bob. “In fact, I think we’re the best satellite because of the 14 people who work at this shop . . . well, 12 plus V12 and Beau in Broomfield. The atmosphere of our shop is so special that when anyone comes here to help us out, they want to stay here, too!”

V12, as Bob has nicknamed him, is Chris Vadeboncoeur, and he works in Broomfield at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. Broomfield is about 35 miles northwest of the Centennial Airport. The shop does mostly line work, and crews from the Denver satellite shop help with installations. Chris takes care of the airplanes from the northern airports in Fort Collins and Greeley, and he even services some from Casper, Wyoming, and Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

During ski season from December 1 through April 30, Roy (Beau) Hawkins works at the Vail Valley Jet Center in Gypsum, Colorado, servicing planes for skiers. He joins V12 at the Broomfield facility from May 1 through November 30.

As much as Bob values the technical skills and expertise of his team, he knows that his facility works as well as it does because everyone wants to be there, they value their relationships with customers and fellow team members, and they all love the environment and community, too.

“Everything we do takes teamwork and respect,” says Bob. “We’re located at a busy airport in a busy part of the country, and we work on everything from small, experimental aircraft all the way up to Globals. Although this is Falcon country, and we see a lot of 900s, 2000s, 7Xs, and 50s, we are also starting to see more Gulfstreams and Hawkers, too.”

Erik Benson, Ken Smith, Kim Owen, John Sims, Wayne Sand, Thomas Gauna, Chris Demarest, Sean Macoomb, Matt Whitney, Bob Hazy. Not Pictured: Rodney Weaver, Charles Anderson, Chris Vadeboncoeur, Beau Hawkins

The Denver avionics satellite maintains the avionics systems of general aviation, business charter, and even government aircraft. There are roughly 600 small reciprocating aircraft and 250 jet aircraft that make their home at the Centennial Airport in Denver, where the Duncan Aviation avionics satellite facility is located. Bob and his team work on aircraft located along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Bozeman, Montana.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the relationships that the Denver satellite has built,” says Matt Nelson. “They make our jobs a lot easier.”

More importantly for the customers, the techs from the Denver satellite facility usually travel to customers’ hangars to do their repair, maintenance, and installation work. The shop focuses primarily on avionics line work and avionics installations. They’ve been installing ADS-B out on a lot of smaller aircraft and are just starting to see ADS-B installations on larger aircraft.

“Typically, we see the Gogo Biz High Speed Data installations to Garmin stacks and FMS upgrades. We’ve done a lot of TCAS 7.1, too,” says Bob. “Lots of our customers travel outside of the United States, so they’re installing the mandated NextGen equipment.”

Bob says that brief description doesn’t begin to capture the range of work they do, though. They also work directly with some of our vendors like Gogo Biz and help with their STCs.

“We recently modified the Gogo Biz Challenger so they could test new equipment in the future,” says Bob. “A great example of our quality was when we did a complete upgrade of an FMS for a customer who was taking his aircraft out of the country to New Zealand. After 10 years of flawless operation, the DOM sent Matt Nelson a letter that said, ‘You guys talk about guaranteeing your work for the life of the aircraft, and you can do that because your work lasts that long! We just sold that aircraft squawk-free.’”

An abundance of sunshine and blue sky was on hand for the Duncan Aviation Denver Satellite Avionics customer appreciation BBQ at the Centennial Airport in Englewood, CO. Hundreds of customers from the area enjoyed great food. 

Fifty years ago, with nothing more than a handshake, Duncan Aviation began a unique business relationship with Captain Per Alkaersig. Although Duncan Aviation was 10 years old in 1966 and had a few business dealings with companies outside of the United States, the company didn’t have a dedicated parts department or anyone who routinely interacted with customers in Europe. 

Now the owner of Alkair in Copenhagen, Denmark, Captain Alkaersig was a well-known, successful dealer of Cessnas in the 1960s and Learjet in the 1970s. Prior to that, he was a captain for the SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System).

“As a Cessna dealer in Scandinavia, I contacted Duncan Aviation regarding King radios,” recalls Captain Alkaersig. “We enjoyed success selling the Cessna 310 and 400 series, but the radio packages that Cessna produced at the ARC facility in New Jersey were not reliable in the harsh Scandinavian winters.”

Captain Alkaersig knew that Duncan Aviation was an authorized King radio dealer, so he contacted them about procuring radios for European aircraft. When Captain Alkaersig flew to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1966, he met with the late Donald Duncan (the founder of Duncan Aviation), his son Robert Duncan (now Chairman Emeritus), and Captain Harry Barr. They agreed that Duncan Aviation would buy the King radios in Wichita, Kansas, and transport them to Duncan Aviation at the Lincoln airport. Captain Alkaersig would then fly to Lincoln, pick up the radios, and ferry them back to Europe.

The quartet eventually formed a company called Management Jets Worldwide.

“What a great team,” recalls Captain Alkaersig. “A handshake closed a deal, and soon we got into trading aircraft. They had me racing around the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, picking up or delivering Learjets, Citations, and Hawkers.”

After a series of successful trades and sales, the company was still faced with the expense of ferrying a Cessna 421 from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Lincoln. Captain Alkaersig wasn’t ready to give up, though.

“Eventually, I found a Danish buyer and saved the company the long ferry flight to Lincoln,” says Captain Alkaersig. “Donald’s remark was simply, ‘Well done, young man.’ I answered, ‘Coming from you, Don, I appreciate your opinion very much.’ We were truly a great team.” 

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2016 is a special year. It is Duncan Aviation’s 60th year of helping business aircraft operators be safe, efficient and productive. For six decades, customers have asked us for solutions and services. We are celebrating our 60 years by telling the stories about the people of Duncan Aviation who listened and took action.

Celebrate with us by subscribing to the Duncan Download blog, following us on Facebook and Twitter (@DuncanAviation) and visiting our anniversary website at www.DuncanAviation.aero/60.

As mentioned in Part I, Robert’s father, Donald Duncan, founded Duncan Aviation in 1956 and this year, Duncan Aviation celebrates 60 years. Now read the rest of the story of how Robert’s vision transitioned the small, family business from its modest beginnings into a company with a respected presence around the world.

You can read Tribute To J.Robert Duncan, Part I here 

Parts Consignment

Don Fiedler, now Manager of New Business Development for Components, joined the 10-year-old company in 1966 as the fourth member of the very new avionics team. The team repaired and installed avionics equipment on Bonanzas, Barons, and King Airs, and they also did some work on Harry’s helicopters.

As the industry started shifting from primarily piston engines to turbines, Robert saw the surplus parts for the older prop planes just sitting on shelves, and he surmised that there were probably FBOs around the country that had similar investments in unmoving parts. He envisioned a program where companies would send Duncan Aviation their surplus parts and, based on very new, barely known computer networking—a precursor of today’s Internet—Duncan Aviation would create an inventory of the parts and sell them on consignment.  This vision became AVPAC (Parts & Rotables today) in the early 1980s.

“I've had the opportunity to work with all four generations. Donald in the early days, then Robert, and now Todd and his sons,” says Project Manager Howard Nitzel. “Robert always had good people to run the day-to-day operations for him. He would be looking at the future, always four or five years out, and willing to try new things. AVPAC is a classic example—a parts support services. It was kind of a pipe dream, and it really took off into a whole industry. Robert was a true visionary, made the company grow, and took care of everyone and their families. He’s a true businessman in every sense of the word.”

Don Fiedler explains that Robert’s vision was to establish a network, collect the parts, set fair prices, and ship them out to buyers the day they ordered.

“He wanted to make it easy to find parts and to get a fair price for them,” says Don. “And he wanted to make sure the inventory was meticulously maintained so we never claimed to have parts we didn’t. ‘First in, first out,’ was Robert’s rule.”

Robert  met with Bob McCammon (now manager of Aircraft Sales), Bob Tooker (Senior Sales Rep/Quality Control for Parts & Rotables Sales), Larry Stewart (former Senior Rotables Manager who retired in January after 43 years with Duncan Aviation), and Don Fiedler and explained his idea to get Duncan Aviation into the parts consignment business.

“It was a wonderful thing to work for that man,” says Don. “I’ve always looked up to Robert. I genuinely know him and really respect and like him. The word I most associate with Robert is ‘visionary.’ He surrounded himself with people who could take his ideas and run with them. And, to his credit, although the ideas were his, he always gave us free rein to make his dreams a reality.”

The Satellite Network

Once AVPAC was up and running, Robert again approached Don with an idea. This time, Robert told Rick Whitesell and Don of an experience he and his wife Karen had at a Lincoln’s Hovland-Swanson department store.

“Karen was trying on shoes, and as I waited, I talked to the manager of the shoe department,” says Robert.  “He told me he worked for a national shoe company. He said, ‘We specialize in shoes; we just lease this space.’ This got me thinking, ‘How could Duncan Aviation, with our expertise in avionics, expand that around the country?’”

One of Duncan Aviation’s greatest assets has always been its employees. Robert knew there were talented, experienced, knowledgeable technicians in Lincoln, hundreds if not thousands of miles away from where the avionics were that needed servicing.

“We joke that the avionics satellites are Robert’s five-minute idea that exploded,” says Don. “He said, ‘How ‘bout this idea? We lease space at established, respected FBOs around the country and put in two-man avionics shops. We keep it simple—do simple stuff in the field and continue to have the complex stuff sent to Lincoln. And we offer free loaners and free tech support.’ That was it!”

As a result of Robert’s “five-minute idea,” Duncan Aviation now has more than 20 avionics satellite shops located at busy airports around the country. Not only do our customers drop into these facilities for quick repairs, but also they can schedule complex installations, including upgrades to avionics that satisfy the NextGen mandates.

Robert credits Don for the success of the program. “It was my concept, but Don ran with it, and now Matt is managing all of them,” says Robert.

Matt is Matt Nelson, Manager of Satellite Operations. He started at Duncan Aviation in 1987 when he was 18 years old, and it was his first full-time job.

“It was summertime, and Todd Duncan and I were in the warehouse washing cars and airplanes,” laughs Matt. “We were about the same age, and we worked hard.”

As someone who has worked at Duncan Aviation for 29 years, Matt is a member of an exclusive club called Silver Wings.

Silver Wings

Silver Wings is a club that Robert created to celebrate employees who have worked at Duncan Aviation for 25 years or more. Because silver commemorates a 25^th anniversary, the group that worked with Robert to establish the club chose Silver Wings as its name.

“It’s a way to recognize all of the many contributions our steadfast, loyal, dedicated employees have made in their tenure here. Many of them have been here far longer than 25 years, too, including Don Fiedler. This year, he’ll celebrate his 50^th year with the company,” says Robert. “The Silver Wings employees, about 300 of them now, are the core of what Duncan Aviation is about, and they’re the reason so many of our customers can call Duncan Aviation and talk to the same person they’ve dealt with for 25 years or more. It means so much in our industry, and it means so much to us as a company, too.”

Those employees say the same thing about Robert Duncan and Duncan Aviation

“This company has been my life, mostly because of how the Duncan family has always cared for their employees,” says Don. “It’s a company built on integrity, and I’ve always felt privileged to be a part of something so special. It was such an adventure to get hired on at such a young, exciting place, and I’ve been here to see it grow and become the respected company it is today.”

Todd Duncan, too, is a member of the Silver Wings club, as he has been working at Duncan Aviation for 28 years.

Robert’s Son, Todd Duncan

Todd has been Chairman of Duncan Aviation since 2007, and he’s seen the company ride the waves, the highs and lows, of the business aviation industry.

“One thing I’ve always admired my Dad for is what he brought to the business every single day, regardless of what we were facing, and that’s his optimistic spirit. He’s always able to look to and find brighter days,” says Todd. “He’s a tremendously forward-looking man, and he’s always so positive. He cares deeply about our employees and our customers. He’s the kind of man who inspires others to do their best, too.”

Todd agrees with what Robert calls the immeasurable value of the employees at Duncan Aviation. Father and son are keenly aware of the network of support they have created and developed at Duncan Aviation.

Yesterday, at the annual AEA convention in Orlando, Florida, Robert was given a life-time achievement award, recognizing his contributions to the aviation industry and acknowledging everything he’s done at Duncan Aviation in the last 60 years.

 

This morning, J. Robert Duncan, Chairman Emeritus of Duncan Aviation, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aircraft Electronics Association at the organization’s international convention and trade show in Orlando, Florida.

Robert’s father, Donald Duncan, founded Duncan Aviation in 1956 and this year, Duncan Aviation celebrates 60 years since that story began.

However, less known is the story of how Robert transitioned the small, family business from its modest beginnings into a company with a respected presence around the world.

In The Beginning

In 1956, when Duncan Aviation opened its hangar doors, 14-year-old Robert was there.

“I was there doing minor things, working on the line, and I joined the company full-time after graduating from Northwestern in 1965,” says Robert. “Harry Barr had been like a big brother to me when I was growing up. He taught me how to fly, and I got my pilot’s license as soon as I could. I was taking lessons when I was 15 and soloed at 16. After getting my private license when I was 17, I kept right on flying and got my commercial license at 18. It feels like I’ve always flown, and I just love it.”

Piloting a plane lets Robert detach himself from daily demands and get up where it’s quiet; he loves going fast and seeing the world in a whole new way.

Robert’s passion for flying helped him relate well to customers and employees alike. In addition to enjoying the freedom of actually flying, he also loved the mechanics, avionics, and power of airplanes. Growing up, Robert had helped his father put away, clean, and work on airplanes for as long as he can remember.

In the early days, when Duncan Aviation was a Beech distributor, one of Robert’s jobs was to go to Wichita, Kansas, and fly the new planes to Lincoln. He flew Bonanza Barons, Twin Bonanzas, and Beech 18s.

In helping finance Bill Lear’s dream of building innovative turbine-powered aircraft, Donald Duncan secured rights for Duncan Aviation to distribute Learjet aircraft.  Robert then became the youngest certified pilot at 23 years old to fly the aircraft whose name was synonymous with speed, performance, and luxury.

Now Chairman Emeritus of Duncan Aviation, Robert still enjoys the speed and the freedom of flying; he flies a Mustang and an M2.

“I love those airplanes, especially for the avionics equipment,” says Robert. “They give me the ability to fly myself and do so in a very safe way.”

Core Values & Innovation

The dreams Donald and Harry had for Duncan Aviation were shared by Robert from early in the company’s history. Donald, Harry, and Robert started a helicopter business in western Nebraska, and Robert says his father and Harry taught him to always take advantage of new opportunities, to look for new products that will serve customers better, and to stay active and involved in the community.

“My father instilled in me an attitude of growth and opportunity,” says Robert. “I was always on the lookout for new adventures, new airplanes, and new opportunities.”

Robert’s son Todd, now Chairman of Duncan Aviation, learned those same lessons.

“Dad and Grandpa said you always had to take care of the fundamentals. We’re a small business, in a small industry. We don’t make the airplanes, but our business is about everything that comes after that,” says Todd. “Create a cooperative environment, don’t create silos, and don’t run things like dictators. We work in an industry that requires collaboration and teamwork, so we have to foster that every day here at Duncan Aviation, too.”

A New Beginning

In 1981, when Robert was 41 years old, his father died suddenly. Donald’s death shocked the entire company, and especially Robert.

“We were in the midst of pretty tough times. Inflation was high and interest rates were astronomical; our business was weak,” says Robert. “We needed new enterprises and new opportunities for our employees.”

Donald’s focus had been sales, and Robert knew he had to grow the business in other ways. He recruited talented people to run new endeavors, and one of them was the Interior shop. There was no design center or cabinet shop, yet, but the small shop fixed broken seats and installed carpet, headliners, and side ledges. Robert envisioned much more, and he recruited Jeannine Falter to head the shop.

“I had been working for Learjet when my 47-year-old father had a heart attack, so I decided to accept the Duncan Aviation job offer and move back to Nebraska,” says Jeannine. “I gave my notice and said I was going to work for Duncan Aviation. People at Learjet took me aside and tried to talk me out of it. This was shortly after Donald had died, and they didn’t think the company would survive. They underestimated Robert and his entrepreneurial talent. He’s smart, open to new ideas, and willing to take risks. I’ve never regretted my decision to work for Robert.”

In the following years, Robert envisioned several more advances that not only created new avenues of business for Duncan Aviation, but also grew the company and spread its name and reputation around the world. Among the ideas that Robert conceived of were AVPAC and the Duncan Aviation satellite avionics facilities.

Moving is a hassle, but the Duncan Aviation satellite facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recently endured the stress and mess in order to take up residence in a spacious new hangar. After vacating a paltry 1,000 square feet of leased space in a 1940’s-era facility, they found themselves with 32,000 square feet in a state-of-the-art hangar that was built in 2007.

Established in 1986, the Fort Lauderdale shop has always been located in space rented from and shared with other businesses. As those businesses grew and expanded, the Duncan Aviation shop would have to relocate. Earlier this year, Satellite Operations Manager Matt Nelson and Manager of the Fort Lauderdale shop Brian Redondo realized it would be beneficial for customers if the satellite stopped bouncing around and set up shop in its own hangar.

The shop and offices take up the entire second floor of the hangar and leases much of the main-floor space to Part 91, low-utilization customers who want to store their aircraft in a limited access, secure facility.

“Currently, our hangar houses a Falcon 2000, Hawker 800XP, Learjet 60, and Gulfstream IV, in addition to our aircraft in for maintenance” says Fort Lauderdale Satellite Manager Brian Redondo. “All of them are owned by long-time Duncan Aviation customers. They appreciate the fact that our facility is private, so people can’t just wander in and out, and as tenants they get the fastest service Duncan Aviation can offer.”

Hired as the manager of the Fort Lauderdale shop in 2006, Brian has grown the facility from five employees to 12. One of the things he loves about Duncan Aviation is that although it’s a somewhat large company, it’s still family owned, and employees are treated as family.

“I’ve worked for small companies with five people where you got paid if the owner showed up with his checkbook, and large companies where I was just a number. I still remember that number, too, because I had to use it every time I went to the tool crib, to HR or filled out a form,” says Brian. “I like the culture at Duncan Aviation. It’s large enough to provide stability and benefits and small enough that everyone knows my name.”

When he was about five-years old and living in Old Forge, New York, Brian remembers standing on a dock on Fourth Lake—one of the Fulton Chain Lakes in Adirondack Park—with his father and grandfather. One of his grandfather’s friends pulled up to the dock in his Piper Cub on floats, and Brian and his dad climbed in. They took off, and from the minute the plane lifted off of the lake, Brian was hooked on flying.

Years later at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, Brian got his A&P license, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Technology (aka avionics). He worked at a number of facilities big and small until he was hired as the manager of the Fort Lauderdale shop in 2006.

With the larger shop space, Brian anticipates an increase in business in the coming year. Currently, less than 50 percent of the avionics installations at the Fort Lauderdale facility satisfy mandates for the upcoming NextGen deadlines.

“I’d expect to see an increase from our current level to about 75 percent in the coming year,” says Brian. “We also install and repair just about anything: Flight data recorders, flight management systems, 60Hz cabin power, USB outlets, a little cabin entertainment and lots and lots of Wi-Fi to name a few.”

Brian is relieved to have the move behind him, and he’s looking forward to the shop’s future growth. He’s especially appreciative of the support he and the rest of the team members get from Matt Nelson and other managers at Duncan Aviation.

“It’s been a lot of fun to watch the Fort Lauderdale team grow in number and reputation,” says Matt. “I couldn’t be more proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish in such a competitive environment.” 

In 1978, Phil Porter was hired as Duncan Aviation’s first logistics manager; although, at the time, he was called a parts runner. Nearing the completion of his fourth decade at Duncan Aviation, Phil took some time to reflect on his long tenure with the company.

“I was going to UNL when my girlfriend Cindy took me up in her Cessna 150,” says Phil. “We dropped in on the Duncan Aviation ramp, and I was enamored of the place. Right then, I decided I wanted to be a part of it, so I changed my plans to head home to the Chicago area. Cindy and I got married, and I applied here for a job.”

Phil was both the aircraft parts runner and the shipping department back then, and he had to physically search shelves for parts. There were no computers or inventory control back then.

“And I personally packed up and shipped everything that left the company,” says Phil. “I’d call Trailways bus to find out the schedule and then drive the packages to the depot.”

One time Phil was unable to find a way to ship the horizontal stabilizer to Wichita, Kansas, for singer Paul Anka’s Learjet, so he packed it into his car and drove it there himself. Leaving Lincoln at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Phil arrived at the Learjet facility about five hours later. He drove up to the main hangar, parked in the late Harry B. Combs’ [President of Learjet from 1971 until 1982] parking space, and looked for someone to help unload the stabilizer.

Although driving a stabilizer from one state to the next was somewhat unusual for a parts runner, Phil’s story illustrates how Duncan Aviation and its team members literally go the extra mile for customers.

Shipping parts to Mexico, Canada or anywhere in the world in the late 1970s was fairly unusual, too, because most of Duncan Aviation’s parts business involved Learjet aircraft, and Phil remembers that those parts shipped primarily in the United States.

There were notable exceptions, however, and in 1966, 10 years after Donald Duncan founded Duncan Aviation, Donald and Harry Barr partnered with Danish Pilot Captain Per Alkaersig to supply radio packages for Cessna aircraft that flew in the Scandinavian countries.

“I looked for a supplier of King radios and found Duncan Aviation. They would pick up the aircraft in Wichita and have it ready to ferry to Europe on a firm date,” says Per. “When I’d pick up the aircraft in Lincoln, I’d meet Donald and Robert Duncan and Harry Barr. What a great team! A handshake would close a deal.”

When Duncan Aviation won the exclusive rights as master distributor for Piper (including Aztecs and Cubs) parts, Duncan Aviation began regularly shipping parts worldwide.

“Through our Piper parts agreement, I meet not only Piper dealers in Pennsylvania and Florida, but also made connections with companies in places like England, South Africa and Sweden,” says Phil. “We started dealing those parts in 1984, and we shipped quite a lot to Italy and Madagascar and to all of the little mom and pop shops around the world that needed parts for Pipers.”

Although Phil had been promoted from parts runner to sales around 1981, the worldwide parts distribution took off with the Piper deal, and in 1984, Duncan Aviation’s AvPac was born. Now known as Parts and Rotables, the annual sales of parts outside of the United States represents about 35 percent of all parts and rotables sales.

“Today, roughly one third of our team members work hours to accommodate our worldwide customers,” says Chris Gress, Manager of Parts and Rotables Sales.

Shirley Crouch and Tyler Stone work through the night so they can answer calls from customers in Australia and southeast Asia; Carol Hunt and Hannah Bodenstab support customers in South Africa; and Phil, Lance Tophoj, Jewell Chambers and Sandra Phelps support customers in Europe and South America. Sandra begins working at 4 a.m. so European customers can reach an actual person at the start of their business day.

In the early day, Phil sold Piper parts, and one of his first customers was Pilot John Egelykke who worked for a pump factory in Denmark called Grundfos. Per introduced John to Duncan Aviation in 1986, and John has been working with the company at its various locations ever since.

“The European aviation industry is a closely knit community. When you help customers locate parts or resolve problems, they remember you,” says Phil. “Over the years, in spite of the fact that some of my best customers have switched from one company to another, they remember that I helped, and they continue to call.”

John got to know Phil shortly after his first experience working with Duncan Aviation.

“Phil has been a great person to work with over the years. He has helped me a lot with AOG parts and a great number of quotes,” says John. “When Grundfos changed their aircraft management company to Air Alsie in 2011, I suggested taking the Falcon 2000 to Battle Creek for a C-check. I have always enjoyed working with Shawn Busby and Tom Burt, too.”

John stopped flying after 30 years and 14,000 hours as a pilot, and he now works as a Technical Advisor for Air Alsie. And he still recommends Duncan Aviation to his customers in large part because Phil took the time to forge a friendship on top of the business relationship the two men developed so many years ago.

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2016 is a special year. It is Duncan Aviation’s 60th year of helping business aircraft operators be safe, efficient and productive. For six decades, customers have asked us for solutions and services. We are celebrating our 60 years by telling the stories about the people of Duncan Aviation who listened and took action.

Celebrate with us by subscribing to the Duncan Download blog, following us on Facebook and Twitter (@DuncanAviation) and visiting our anniversary website at www.DuncanAviation.aero/60.

Lori Johnson has been the Marketing Communications Manager for Duncan Aviation for more than 20 years. She enjoys working with the smart and passionate aviation experts at Duncan Aviation, helping them connect with and educate customers about important industry topics.  

In April 2015, the 61-year-old amphibious aircraft landed at Duncan Aviation’s Lincoln, Nebraska, facility to get fitted with its new interior—or, more accurately, an interior.

In addition to installing sound-dampening materials, the production team, following the plans of the owner’s (Joe Duke) designer, Bruce Shoemaker of SDesign.aero, put in numerous passenger accommodations. The crew built two galleys, a lav and interior panels and installed LEDs, USB plugs, dome and task lighting and new gaspers. They updated the cockpit with side ledges and a workstation.

“It’s evident that everyone here at Duncan Aviation cares. The attention to detail is unmatched,” says Joe. Gesturing toward the galley, he adds, “Look at the quality of the cabinetry, and they were difficult to build.”

Our time-lapse video captures the progression from the pristine but empty cabin and cockpit to the newly completed aircraft interior, designed to invoke the style and materials used in the period in which the Albatross was produced.

1982 had barely flipped a calendar page when Duncan Aviation opened its brand spankin’ new Interior shop, and 19-year-old Matt Spain was one of the shop’s first five employees.

He’d been working for a company that refurbished aircraft interiors in 1981 when his good friend Chip Mosley encouraged him to take a look at Duncan Aviation.

Matt liked what he saw, was hired by Bob McCammon. Matt began his career here on June 22, 1981 in the Paint shop, and he moved to the new Interior shop a few months later when it opened.

“On the day the new Interior shop opened its garage door, I was there,” says Matt. “We didn’t yet have a Design Center or a Cabinet shop, and we mostly did soft good replacement and Interior repairs. We fixed broken seats, hinges and armrests and installed carpet, headliners and side ledges. And we sewed. We all knew how to sew, or we learned on the job.”

Matt, who will celebrate his 34^th anniversary with Duncan Aviation in June, is the only one of the original Interior shop employees who’s still at Duncan Aviation. Housed in a garage in one of the old hangars, Matt worked with Ray Butkus, Arnold Goodlett, Dennis Hansen and Mike Harris, and Mike Winters supervised the small staff.

“Ray and Arnold were the upholstery specialists, Mike could do a little of everything, and I focused on completions and modifications,” says Matt.

During those early years, the guys in the Interior shop worked on primarily 25 and 30 series Learjets, Jetstars and Sabreliners. The biggest aircraft they touched was a GII.

“In addition to the fact that I got to work on an airplane, I loved working with my hands and seeing the difference between before and after,” says Matt. “It is so rewarding to see the look on owners’ faces when they pick up their aircraft and say ‘Wow! You guys are really good at what you do!’”

Cabinet work was outsourced to Dwight Moody’s cabinet shop in the Haymarket. In 1983, Duncan Aviation bought that cabinet shop and many of its employees became Duncan Aviation employees. Gerry Hilde, who retired in October 2015 after 32 years, was one of the original Cabinet shop employees who transitioned to Duncan Aviation after the acquisition.

Around that time, the Interior shop and the newly acquired Cabinet shop moved from the garage to the backside of the LAI hangar (now Hangar C). Duncan Aviation also hired Interior Master Finish Specialist Steve Reznick as its first finish guy. 

“Before Steve, we did whatever we could to get by,” says Matt. “He knew and taught us materials, products and methods that we just didn’t know. Steve showed us how to match stains and fix damaged areas, he introduced a whole new interior painting system and he taught us about faux finishing, too. He knew clear coats and materials that worked on wood. With his knowledge and experience, Steve took the shop to a whole new level.”

In 1985, Matt transitioned to the Interior shop Team Leader, and he says he was a man on a mission.

“As a brand new Team Leader I was a hard driver focused on getting aircraft finished and delivered on time,” says Matt. “I was learning how to be a manager and how to conduct business in a professional manner, but I had high expectations. I worked right alongside my team, but if we were told something had to be done by Friday, I’d make sure it was done by Friday no matter how many hours we had to work.”

As Duncan Aviation’s reputation grew in the industry and the Interior shop grew (by roughly 18% each year), Matt grew professionally. He was managing the Interior shop, was married and had two children, and Skip Madsen and John Slieter encouraged Matt to go to college. With tuition assistance from Duncan Aviation, Matt went to Doane College and graduated with a degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in management.

“It was an interesting time, but my education was timely and extremely valuable,” says Matt. “I was insanely busy, but I’d go to school at night and apply the principles I had learned the next day on the floor.”

Matt began managing the Interior shop in 1991, and he oversaw the growth of the production team from 35 people to more than 200, with 28 team leaders. As business picked up and aircraft transitioned from small to mid-sized cabins, the Interior shop outgrew its space.

Members of the Interior shop, including Matt, were called upon to submit their ideas to Tectonic Management Group who asked for our input on the design and layout of the new shop. In 2001, on the day President George W. Bush was inaugurated, the Interior shop opened in its current location in Hangar D.

In 2007, Matt left the Interior shop to work with our NetJets Program.  He transitioned to Project Manager in 2009 and then on to Paint and Interior sales in 2010. He spent nearly 30 years on the production side, managing and building teams.  When Mike Minchow, then Manager of NetJets and Sales, asked him to join the sales team, Matt jumped at the opportunity.

“I often thought sales would be a good next step for me” says Matt, and he credits Senior Sales Representative in Completions and Modifications Service Sales Tracey Boesch for teaching him the art of selling interiors for Embraer and Bombardier aircraft, even though she specializes in sales for Dassault Falcons and Learjets.

“I love sales, and it’s been a welcome change from managing people,” says Matt. “The experience of working on the floor and managing people has given me an advantage in sales, though. I know what we’re capable of, and I know what questions to ask. From a customer’s perspective, the whole process should be seamless from proposal to production. In order to offer that kind of experience, it’s important that we sales people ask the production folks a lot of questions. Learn from them; let them help you when you’re writing a quote. Go and ask them questions.”

During Matt’s tenure with Duncan Aviation, the Interior shops’ capabilities grew from the original handful of airframes to dozens, including Falcon, Gulfstream, Global, Challenger, Hawker, Citation, Learjet, Embraer, Hawker, King Air, Astra/Westwinds, and more.

The Interior Mods/Completions shop is in Manager Jared Stauffer’s capable hands now, and in partnership with the Duncan Aviation Design Center, offers custom designs by professional designers, quality products and meticulous attention to detail. Over the years, the Interior shop has evolved from its humble beginnings to a production crew that’s capable of refurbishing headliners, building custom cabinets, upholstering chairs and divans, constructing executive tables, and much more.