Dennis Kruse, Benjamin Viveros, Rodolfo Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Joe Tulowitzki, Alfredo Garcia, Chris Gress
This was our first year at HAI HELI-EXPO as an exhibitor. We had so much fun and met so many very important people; we will be back next year.
OK…we admit it. We are HAI HELI-EXPO exhibitor newbies and should have been at this show years ago, but we are not rookies when it comes to aviation component services. In fact, we are one of the oldest, most established avionics and accessory service companies in the world.
We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for component AOG support. So whether you call us at 2 PM, or 2 AM, you will get a live person, experienced in component sales, repair, and overhaul support. We can schedule your exchange or repair anytime, day or night.
So you see. We may be new (to the HAI HELI-EXPO), but we’re not new. We’ve been around awhile, owned by the Duncan family since 1956. Few companies in the aviation industry, if any, are 60 years old and still operating under the same name. We have seen competitors come and go and companies bought and sold, some several times.
But, if you are looking for a company that has truly demonstrated stability, integrity, longevity; a company that will be here to support you not only this year, but for years to come, Duncan Aviation is the company you want to do business with.
Tags: Parts & Accessories, Avionics & Instruments, Conventions & Exhibitions
“Duncan Aviation has excellent aircraft parts availability, good prices and great service. We regularly use their parts and rotables services because their quality is awesome.” –Francisco Carrillo Peralta, Purchase Agent for ALE Service Center in Mexico.
With more than 15 years of experience as a maintenance and repair organization working in the Mexican market, ALE Service Center has three locations in Mexico and provides service for about 100 clients who operate Hawker-Beechcraft, Agusta, HondaJet and Bombardier aircraft.
“I can trust what Duncan Aviation tells me,” Francisco says. “If they say they have a part available, they do. And their ship times are accurate and fast.” No other aviation parts company can compete when it comes to customer value.
Chris Gress, Duncan Aviation Parts and Rotables Sales manager says it comes as no surprise when customers like Francisco keep coming back. “Duncan Aviation’s reputation in providing quality aircraft parts is widely known throughout the aviation industry. Our repair capabilities are top-quality and our prices are always a fair value. Anyone who has ever purchased an aircraft part that is tagged with a Duncan Aviation 8130 knows that they are getting a part that will be reliable with no warranty or failure issues.”
Chris will be at AeroExpo at the Toluca International Airport March 16-18. Stop by booth #20 to talk with him and other Duncan Aviation representatives.
Duncan Aviation’s international parts sales experience includes parts and rotables with completed and accurate 8130 paperwork, the management of repairs and overhauls sent to the U.S. to be serviced both by Duncan Aviation and other FAA approved U.S. Repair Stations; the consolidation of return shipments of freshly serviced components back to countries all over the world; and the safe shipment of hazardous material from the U.S. to countries around the world while meeting all regulatory compliance.
Just call +1 402.475.4125 to get instant service, 24/7/365, including holidays, nights and weekends. Or visit Duncan Aviation’s There’s no need to make dozens of calls and scour the internet looking for a part or service. Duncan Aviation has the component solutions you require and will quickly fulfill those needs.
To see more, check out our Parts Search at www.DuncanAviation.aero/parts. You can also download our mobile parts app to search from your phone. Just visit www.DuncanAviation.aero/apps.
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.
Tags: Interior Refurbishment, Videos
“I love turning flying machines into eye candy.”
—John Stahr, Artist
When aircraft owners come to Duncan Aviation with a paint idea, whether it’s digital camo, Matterhorn white with a stripe or a concept that belongs in a Jackson Pollock exhibit, our team makes it happen.
With a team full of talented artists and detail-oriented paint experts, Duncan Aviation can produce almost any aircraft paint work in-house. Sometimes, though, 
projects come up that, due to schedule and workloads, require collaboration with outside artists. When those extra-special projects pop up, Duncan Aviation’s paint team often calls up artist John Stahr.
“When we scheduled the paint job for Virgin’s Galactic Girl at our Battle Creek, Michigan, location, we knew John was the extra team member we needed to complete the paint scheme the way we envisioned it,” explains Completions Sales Rep Nate Darlington.
John has 40 years of custom paint experience and can airbrush the most intricate designs. He started in the mid-1970s working on vehicles, adding vans, motorcycles, race team trucks and luxury coaches to his portfolio. In 2003, he started painting aircraft exclusively.
“Painting something unique on a business jet brings me a great deal of satisfaction, especially when I see my creation parked next to the traditional white aircraft with three stripes,” explains John. “I love turning flying machines into eye candy.”
Watch a time-lapse video of Virgin’s Galactic Girl’s paint process.
While each airbrushed paint scheme is wildly different, the backend process is fairly standard. For this paint scheme:
“I paint by hand, using spray guns and airbrush. Sometimes I’m very precise with measurements. Other times, I paint by eye. I do whatever it takes to make the final piece turn heads,” says John.
Painting large aircraft like Virgin’s Galactic Girl requires two sets of skills: artistic and physical.
John and the rest of the paint team do a lot of climbing and balancing. Operating a lift or climbing a ladder while wearing fall protection isn’t easy. Sometimes, it’s downright unnerving for an artist who needs a steady hand.
After John completed the Virgin Galactic eye logo on the aircraft’s belly, he added two more to either side of the vertical stabilizer. Duncan Aviation’s paint layout team added graphics to the forward portion of the aircraft, completing the artistic aspects of the paint design.
The paint team added clear coat to preserve the delicate airbrushing and graphics, as well as set off the detailed artwork. They sprayed a urethane clear coat to shield the artwork from extreme flying conditions.
Then, the aircraft entered its final step: the detailing phase. Duncan Aviation’s paint team reviewed every square inch of the aircraft, correcting any minor errors. After buffing the jet one last time, the team delivered the aircraft. With the Galactic Girl, they did so ahead of the original schedule.
“The people at each of Duncan Aviation’s locations must be from special aviation bloodlines or something,” explains John. “They all really care about their work, and they make sure every aircraft they touch has the highest level of attention to detail and quality.”
And that’s why when John and several Duncan Aviation teams collaborate, the customer wins.
Read more from the Duncan Debrief Magazine
The Duncan Debrief free publication is available for aviation enthusiasts around the world through mail and online. To receive the magazine, subscribe here. Have an iPad? Access the magazine through the Duncan Debrief app. Search for Duncan Debrief in Apple’s App Store and download it. Once downloaded, you can receive push notifications each time a new Duncan Debrief magazine is published.
Tags: Videos, Aircraft Paint
“When I’m told I’m going to get my unit back in three days, I get my unit back in three days, usually before.”
—Paul Paxton, Director of Maintenance
Paul Paxton runs a tight flight operation for Herzog Contracting Corp., performing a delicate balancing act keeping their fleet operational and ready for their weekly flights. “Wherever we have business, the aircraft have to be ready to go,” says Paul.
Headquartered in St. Joseph, Missouri, their weekly flights have taken them to 46 states and six countries. Herzog supports the growth of community and state infrastructures by building commuter rail and freight systems, as well as road, highway and airport construction projects.
Their flight hours fluctuate widely from week to week and month to month. This heavy flying schedule takes a lot of planning and constant communication. As the director of maintenance, Paul follows a detailed plan to keep the aircraft and all of the hourly components up-to-date with their maintenance schedules.
But as we all know, things happen and not always according to a set schedule. And when they do, it is important to have a back-up plan to get things back on track.
Paul recently found himself in a situation where his aircraft were going to be down at the same time due to the actual hours flown being nearly double what was expected. That caused one of the starter generators to get critically near the end of its hours. It needed to come out immediately and get sent in for overhaul.
Paul doesn’t keep a lot of spares on hand. Therefore, when he pulls a component for overhaul or repair, it essentially creates an AOG situation. “I either have to exchange it or have it expedited through the overhaul.” Preferring to have his own component back, he picked up the phone and called his back-up plan, Joy Damian. Joy is a customer account representative for Duncan Aviation’s Accessories department.
It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday when Joy received Paul’s call. “I’m pulling a starter and I need it back ASAP. Can you help me out?” To which she replied, “We’ll work it in.”
After Paul made the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, Nebraska, the starter generator was entered into the work order system and on the bench by 7:30 p.m. that same night. Once the overhaul was performed with brush replacements and final inspections, the work order was signed off at 6:37 a.m. Friday morning.
It was delivered back into Paul’s hands Friday afternoon and was installed and ready well ahead of the following week’s busy schedule.
Paul explains why he turns to Joy and Duncan Aviation when time is critical. “When Joy tells me I’m going to get my unit back in three days, I get my unit back in three days, usually before. There’s a high level of comfort knowing that I can confidently schedule future flights and other activities based on the date she promises.” Paul goes on to say the reason Joy is successful in her position is that she is backed by a team of skilled technicians who tackle the work. “I can rely upon what she says. That’s huge.”
Read more from the Fall 2015 Duncan Debrief Magazine
The Duncan Debrief free publication is available for aviation enthusiasts around the world through mail and online. To receive the magazine, subscribe here. Have an iPad? Access the magazine through the Duncan Debrief app. Search for Duncan Debrief in Apple’s App Store and download it. Once downloaded, you can receive push notifications each time a new Duncan Debrief magazine is published.
Tags: Parts & Accessories, AOG
On a Saturday…
A Flight Data Recorder that was on its way to an operator in Moanda, Gabon, Africa, from Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., by way of Boulazac, France, was stopped at the border of Gabon, tied up in the red tape of African Customs. The paperwork was denied by the Customs agency and the unit was not allowed to enter the country.
…do you wait until Monday to respond?
The business of business aviation does not sleep, especially when you consider the size of the industry and that all of the major players conduct business across several time zones, international borders and oceans.
It comes as no surprise to anyone at Duncan Aviation when a customer contacts us over a weekend with an urgent need; in the business of business aviation, there are no weekends.
Case in point: Jewell Chambers, a senior international parts sales rep for Duncan Aviation’s Parts and Rotables Sales, left work as normal on a Friday afternoon, looking forward to the weekend and her grandson’s fifth birthday.
She always enjoys her time away from work, but her customers are never far from her mind. Duncan Aviation Parts and Rotables Sales has 24/7/365 coverage, even on evenings and weekends. There is always someone available to answer the phones.
But when you’ve been doing this as long as Jewell has, you build relationships and long-time customers contact you directly. It has become part of her routine to check her email every Saturday and Sunday morning to make sure her customers in Europe don’t have pressing needs. On this particular Saturday, she received the urgent email above.
Jewell and her grandson, Riley, celebrating his fifth birthday.Jewel doesn’t mind helping her customers on the weekends, because if it is critical to them, then it is critical to her. She responded back with, “I’m on my way to the office to get you what you need.”
Within an hour, the proper invoice was on its way to Gabon by way of her customer in France and the unit was allowed into the country.
The weekend is her time away from work, but her commitment to doing the right thing by her customers saved them more than 36 hours of waiting. In her line of work, that is too long.
Besides, she made it back home in plenty of time for the birthday party.
Read more from the Fall 2015 Duncan Debrief Magazine
The Duncan Debrief free publication is available for aviation enthusiasts around the world through mail and online. To receive the magazine, subscribe here. Have an iPad? Access the magazine through the Duncan Debrief app. Search for Duncan Debrief in Apple’s App Store and download it. Once downloaded, you can receive push notifications each time a new Duncan Debrief magazine is published.
The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award is named in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. Taylor served as the Wright brothers' mechanic and is credited with designing and building the engine for their first successful aircraft. The award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics.
Joe Huffman, Sr., an FAA Certification Engineer with Duncan Aviation, and Bernard Michael, a former long-time technician with Duncan Aviation, were recently honored as recipients of the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award.
The Nebraska Aviation Mechanics Seminar committee and the Federal Aviation Administration presented them with the awards at a banquet on the evening of January 29 in Kearney. The presentation was conducted in conjunction with the annual evening banquet at the Nebraska Aviation Mechanics and IA Renewal Seminar.
Award recipients are required to have worked for a period of 50 years in an aviation maintenance career and must have been an FAA-certificated mechanic or repairman working on N-registered aircraft maintained under the Federal aviation regulations for a minimum of 30 of the 50 years required.
Joe Huffman, Sr., has been employed in aviation for 50 years, 48 of those years being dedicated to serving at Duncan Aviation. He was initially hired at Duncan Aviation as a mechanic. Joe first became a pilot just after graduating from Lincoln High School in 1961. After graduation, he worked for Wallace Tiller in Bellevue as a landscaper until 1963. From there, he went on to his first aviation job in 1963, working at South Omaha airport in Omaha, Nebraska. He resided there until 1965, when he moved to Denison, Iowa, and worked as a mechanic, instructor and charter pilot until 1967. He moved back to Lincoln in 1967 to work at Duncan Aviation and has remained there since.
“As a longtime Duncan Aviation team member myself, I have known Joe for years. I looked up to him and was mentored by him when I first started with Duncan Aviation,” says Darwin Godemann, Master Mechanic for Duncan Aviation and Lead Program Coordinator for The Nebraska Aviation Maintenance and IA Seminar Committee of The Nebraska Aviation Council.
2016 Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Recipients: During World War II, Bernard Michael developed a love of aviation from watching B-17s rumble over his father’s farm as they made their way from the Boeing factory toward the European Theater. When Bernard came of age, he served his country by joining the Air Force; he spent most of his military duty working Counter Intelligence in the Philippines. After leaving the military, he attended Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, where he graduated with an Airframe/Powerplant license and a commercial pilot certificate.
In January 1966, Michael started his 50-year aircraft maintenance career with Douglas Aircraft Co. in Tulsa, Okla. Moving around the Midwest, Bernard repaired flight controls for Douglas Aircraft Co. in Oklahoma, performed IA inspections in Iowa, agricultural spraying in Kansas, and was a jet airframe shop supervisor for Duncan Aviation in Nebraska. Receiving the FAA’s Central Region Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Accident Prevention was one of the highlights of his aviation career.
Retired now, Michael continues to perform aircraft maintenance for friends at the Lincoln Airport and enjoys assisting with local air shows.
“When I first started at Duncan Aviation and began working in the Jet Shop, Bernard was my supervisor and was like a father figure to me,” Godemann says. “Bernard would not only provide guidance, he would encourage me to use my training and best judgment when tackling complex maintenance tasks. His encouragement and confidence in my abilities in those days still serves me to this day.”
A third aviation technician, George Czarnecki of Central Cylinder Service in Omaha, was also presented with the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award at the banquet.
Tags: Announcements
We are one big extended family. When I walk through the hangars I’m not just talking with employees and customers, but with friends.
Todd Duncan, Duncan Aviation Chairman
At the very heart of Duncan Aviation is a sense of belonging; a family of friends, co-workers and a valued support system. We work together. Sometimes play together. We live in the same communities and care about each other.
Families that function well together and prosper within great communities provide each other with a ‘total package’ that encompasses the elements each individual needs to grow and evolve. At Duncan Aviation the ‘total package’ involves many things beyond salaries and benefits; it involves a sense of belonging and contributing to something special, something rare in the world of business today.
Watch the following video and listen as several team members describe why they feel like family at Duncan Aviation.
Tags: 60th Anniversary
Duncan Aviation recently received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an industry-first Controller Pilot Data Link Communications/Future Air Navigation System (CPDLC/FANS) 1/A+ installation.
The installation is an affordable solution that features the upgraded NZ-2000 Honeywell Flight Management System (FMS) that integrates with current Challenger 601 3A/3R Original Equipment Manager (OEM) flight decks.
We believe our installation is unique to the industry being a completely integrated Honeywell FMS solution for the Challenger 601.This upgraded Honeywell FMS satisfies all current NextGen mandates for FANS/CPDLC, and is an integral part of our ADS-B OUT, and WAAS LPV programs. This solution provides Challenger 601 operators with a cost effective solution to meet the coming mandates.
The CPDLC/FANS upgrade also demonstrates Duncan Aviation’s commitment to its customers to keep their aircraft flying in airspace around the world. The Honeywell system integrates with current Challenger 601 3A/3R flight decks and is forward-fit compatible with future mandates.
We’re committed to offering our customers cutting-edge solutions. This Honeywell system is designed to accommodate future mandates we may see for United-States airspace. We’re anticipating mandates for ADS-B IN and an updated version of Link2000 and CPDLC in the United States. Right now, these systems are used primarily when flying over water and through EU airspace, but when future mandates are issued for U.S. airspace, this Honeywell system will already be ready for the upgraded equipment.
For more information about this unique solution, visit https://pages3.honeywell.com/Duncan_6.1SoftwareUpgrade.html for program details.
For more information about NextGen requirements and solutions, please visit Duncan Aviation’s NextGen page at www.DuncanAviation.aero/nextgen.
Tags: Challenger, NextGen, FANS 1A
