The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

Doing exactly what customers want can be exciting, if a bit challenging. However, every time they have asked, we have answered in a big way.

During a pre-buy inspection, one of Suzanne Hawes, Senior Sales Representative for Completions and Modifications in Battle Creek, Michigan, customers told her he wanted the Falcon 900 cabin seating reconfigured from 14 seats to 17. He also wanted to drop the overall weight of the aircraft so the round-trip customer flights he was planning could be completed with no fuel stops.

The reconfiguration required an STC (Supplemental Type Certificate), and Suzanne says team members from Engineering, Airframe, and Interior met with her, Project Manager Rich Jones, and Designer Ken Reita almost daily to compare notes and ideas after the initial meeting with the customer, his wife, and his aviation department.

“We had spreadsheets that we updated regularly with the weight of every single item, including coffee containers and life rafts, on that aircraft. We even took out the carpet and weighed it!” says Suzanne. “We pored over that interior, coming up with savings, ounce by ounce.”