The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

“Customer service is key in my business and Duncan Aviation does it better than anyone.”
—Martha Everhart, owner Phast Parts Enterprise LLC

Phast Parts Enterprise Co-Founder Martha Everhart had a customer call her and say ‘“Cuida de mis negocios por favor.” That means “take care of my business please” in Spanish. He needed her assistance in getting the immediate repair of some aircraft avionics components on his Learjet that was soon to enter the market for sale.

Several of Martha’s customers are from Latin America and they seek her out to facilitate their aviation service needs in an English-speaking industry. It’s easy to understand why. As an American citizen originally hailing from Mexico with more than 20 years of experience working for aircraft manufacturers, Martha understands aviation and is able to overcome language and cultural barriers.

She feels this sector is sorely underserved and does anything and everything she can to meet their needs. She therefore called the only other company she knew that cared about customer service as much as she does.

She called Duncan Aviation. Tyler Lauer, customer account rep for Duncan Aviation’s avionics component repair services, answered her call.

Tyler listened to Martha’s needs and took immediate action by calling in Matthews Pastor, another customer account rep, to assist. They tag-teamed the project by having Tyler work directly with the OEMs on units sent out for repair while Matthews managed and coordinated all work performed internally at Duncan Aviation.

Martha was kept in the loop with daily emails, work orders and other progress reports. She was assured the units would be delivered when promised. “I had immediate communication,” says Martha. “They understood my urgency and responded with professionalism while under pressure. It didn’t matter if I talked to Tyler or Matthews, both answered my questions about the whole project. And I talked to them many times a day.”

Martha has been in this industry a long time and says the level of customer service that Tyler and Matthews provided her is unique. “My customer called me and said, ‘I don’t know where you sent my parts for overhaul, but I am getting them back already and it’s only been three days!” All remaining units, except for one due to a backordered part, were returned to the customer in Mexico within one week.

“When I send a quote to Duncan Aviation, I usually have my answer within 10 minutes. My customers are impressed that I am able to respond so quickly. My customers come back to me because I keep going to Duncan Aviation,” says Martha. “They make me look good.”

Read more from the Fall 2015 Duncan Debrief Magazine

Donald Duncan believed that if you took care of your employees, your employees would, in turn, take care of customers.

It is a belief that empowers all Duncan Aviation team members to take the initiative, often times stepping outside their normal job requirements, to discover and deliver what customers need and want, sometimes before they know they need or want it.

We are listening. 

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.

In 1966, Don Fiedler, who is now the Manager of New Business Development for Components, joined the very young Duncan Aviation avionics team as its fourth employee. Then called American Learjet, the company (Duncan Beechcraft) had recently relocated from Omaha, Nebraska, to the Lincoln Airport, and Don primarily worked avionics, doing repairs and installations in Bonanzas, Barons and King Airs. One Learjet 23 was located on the airport, and he worked on that as well.

Don will wrap up his 50^th year in the aviation industry—all of which he has spent at Duncan Aviation—with his retirement in September 2016. He has distinctive memories of every one of his five decades, and he fondly remembers the 1970s as a decade in which Duncan Aviation expanded and grew its avionics capabilities. 

“We did some avionics installs on Cessnas and some on helicopters for Harry Barr’s company called Panhandle Aviation,” says Don. “But once Donald [Duncan, the founder of Duncan Aviation] and Bill Lear finished their negotiations in the ’60s, we were one of only five Learjet service centers in the United States, and by 1970, we were doing a lot of avionics work on Learjets, too.”

Thinking of Learjets reminded Don of how much the late Bill Lear loved the hamburgers from the King’s Food Host on 15^th & Cornhusker. Although the Lincoln institution was eventually franchised, there were no King’s restaurants in Wichita, Kansas, where Learjet was located.

“Whenever Bill flew a Lear to Lincoln, he’d radio ahead and ask us to have 10 or 15 King’s hamburgers waiting for him. He’d take most of them back to Wichita with him,” says Don, laughing.

After becoming an authorized Learjet service center, Duncan Aviation acquired all of the test equipment and began repairing and installing avionics equipment in Learjets. Donald Duncan was the best Learjet salesman in the country. In his lifetime, Don Fielder remembers that Donald sold more than 450 Learjets.

When an aircraft was in for an avionics installation, Don says Donald could be a bit of a mercenary about getting the work done.

“Donald would say, ‘We’re paying interest on that airplane until it’s sold’,” Don says. “One time, we had a Beechcraft Baron in here that we were selling to King’s Food Host, and we installed a complete avionics package in it, including an autopilot. I worked autopilots in those days, and I had been working on the install and checkout for more than 20 hours. I went home, took a little nap and then kept working. We finally got it working; Larry Collier and I installed it. We tested it at 1 a.m., and it was out the door the next morning!”

Another time in the early ‘70s, Don remembers doing an installation on an older DC-3 for Forke Brothers Auctioneers.

“Back then we didn’t have two shifts—we had the day shift and overtime,” says Don. “It was New Year’s Eve, and we were installing new avionics on an older DC-3. It wasn’t going well, but we had to get it done. We stopped briefly at midnight to acknowledge the New Year, but then we just kept on working through the night and into the next morning.”

In 1974, the Avionics shop was split into two departments—the bench and installations. Don managed the five guys who worked the avionics bench, and Ron Hall ran install, which also had about four guys.

Soon after this split, Clay Lacy brought his aircraft to Duncan Aviation for the first time. He’d acquired a really early Learjet 25, and it had a mixture of autopilots, servos and other older avionics equipment that he wanted to modernize.

“The Learjet was a really early serial number, a prototype, and we were modifying it to match the avionics equipment that was routinely installed in new Learjet 25s in the factory,” says Don. “It needed a whole lot of work, though, and it ended up spending six months in Lincoln so we could modify, install and test all of that equipment.

“That was the start of our more than 40-year working relationship with Clay Lacy,” adds Don.

Ron Hall was the Installation Engineer back in those pre-AutoCAD days, and installations sometimes started out as drawings on the back of a napkin.

“Ron knew those Learjet prints backward and forward, and he knew what had to be disconnected or reconnected and to what. The formal drawings were in a big, bound book, but when he was making changes, he’d always make changes on copies of the original prints,” says Don. “Later, he’d go back and render a formal drawing, but he still drew it by hand. Then, we’d add that formal, final drawing to the prints that went with the aircraft.”

In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Larry Collier who was managing the avionics department at the time pushed to get a license for AutoCAD to render avionics prints.

Larry presented his idea to then President Robert Duncan, who agreed. “After that, rendering formal drawings was much easier. Before AutoCAD, Larry or Ron would have to redraw the whole print every time anyone made a change. With the computer program, they just made modifications to the drawing,” Don says.

One of Don’s favorite memories from the 1970s was related to electronics but not necessarily avionics. He remembers the bag phone that Donald Duncan had in his Cadillac. It was one of the first mobile phones anyone at Duncan Aviation had ever seen.

“He loved that phone,” recalls Pam Orr, Travel Coordinator and 39-year Duncan Aviation employee. “When Donald suffered his heart attack and died in 1981, the phone was buried with him.”

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.

In March 2015, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation named family owned Duncan Aviation as a Gulfstream authorized warranty facility. Duncan Aviation is the only Gulfstream authorized warranty facility in the United States, and this news thrilled many Duncan Aviation customers who had been asking us to look at adding these capabilities.

“I was happy to hear that Duncan Aviation is now a Gulfstream authorized warranty center,” says Sanderson Farms’ Aircraft Maintenance Manager Allen Ulmer. “I’ve been a customer of Duncan Aviation for 17 years, and we’ve been taking our three G150s to Lincoln for a year now. We’ve had work done on our interiors and engines, and we’ve also taken the aircraft in for inspections, paint and avionics modifications. I’ve been very pleased with all of the work we’ve had done.”

In addition to the Lincoln facility, Battle Creek, Michigan is also able to perform warranty work and provide maintenance services and repairs within our regulatory approvals on the G100, G150 and G200 aircraft. The Duncan Aviation facility in Provo, Utah can perform warranty work and maintenance services and repairs on the G100 and G150 airframes. 

“There is no question this is an exciting opportunity for us,” says Tech Rep Tim Garity. “And the nice thing is we’re already familiar with these models. We’ve been married to the G100/Astra for the last 30 years. It’s a really unique aircraft, with quite a devoted following. Mechanics love to work on them because they’re easy to maintain and the parts are accessible. And pilots love to fly them."

In order to comply with the terms of the agreement, Duncan Aviation agreed to invest in team member training. As a result, more than 20 team members from all three of our main facilities have gone through avionics and airframe training for the G100, G150 and G200 at FlightSafety in Dallas, Texas.

Other technicians are scheduled to complete further training in the coming months. Thus far, Duncan Aviation has invested more than $250,000 in tuition alone for training and more than $200,000 in tooling for the three models. We want our customers to be confident that Duncan Aviation’s technicians are among the most knowledgeable and skilled in the aviation industry and that our facilities are more than capable of completing the work they need.

“This partnership, which represents a new chapter in our long history with Gulfstream, is a source of great pride for all of us here at Duncan Aviation,” says Chairman Todd Duncan. “Gulfstream is recognized the world over for the exceptional quality of its business jets and its commitment to excellence. We are excited to begin providing our mutual customers with access to three additional facilities in the United States.”

From the Fall 2015 Duncan Debrief Magazine

In the early 1960s, Donald Duncan was operating a Beechcraft distributorship in Omaha, Nebraska. Business airplanes at the time couldn’t fly nonstop from one coast to the other. Donald’s customers expressed the desire to have an executive lounge and meeting spaces available at a centrally located fuel stop.

In 1963, the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, was developing a new Municipal Airport for general aviation. Donald acted and built a first-class facility with a warm reception area, a plush executive lounge, a flight planning room, and catering services. In addition, the facility boasted hangar space for complete, certified aircraft maintenance and repair.

In 1965, Donald’s son, Robert Duncan, was fresh out of college and began working at Duncan Aviation. He flew charters, pumped fuel, swept floors and answered telephones. Duncan Aviation had only 15 employees and was just beginning its transformation from an aircraft sales organization to what would become its future: aircraft service and support.

Duncan Aviation was a distributor for both Beechcraft aircraft and Learjet aircraft. With Learjet manufacturing increasing and Beechcraft sales still growing, Duncan Aviation was beginning to get very busy servicing the aircraft it sold. The company sold its Omaha offices and consolidated at the hangar in Lincoln. 

They have been breaking ground in Lincoln, Nebraska, ever since

Donald’s reputation for fair deals and excellent customer service, which so impressed buyers of new aircraft, now impressed those who needed servicing of those same aircraft. Knowledgeable people in the industry began to talk about the small aviation company located in the central plains of the United States. And Duncan Aviation became the place to receive aircraft maintenance and excellent service.

Soon the company had 200 team members, then 300 and 400. But one thing remained consistent: a team philosophy that included listening to customers and acting to meet their needs.  

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.  

Iowa farmer and automobile salesman Donald Duncan learned how to fly in the 1950s. As he gained aircraft experience and developed deep friendships with aviators, he heard business operators asking to utilize aircraft as business tools. In 1956, he acted, buying into the Omaha, Nebraska, Beechcraft dealership that would become Duncan Aviation.

In addition to selling aircraft, Donald used them extensively as he spent two years commuting daily from his home in Clarinda, Iowa, to Omaha. One day, while preparing for the commute, Donald’s aircraft experienced a technical issue and he became intimately familiar with the term AOG.

Harry Barr, now Duncan Aviation’s Senior Captain and its longest-employed team member at 58 years, came over to help Donald. During the course of conversation, Donald discovered that Harry’s radio needed work. Donald had the connections to get the radio fixed and Harry had an operational airplane that could get Donald to Omaha.

That summed up Donald’s business sense: when two parties can both benefit from a single collective act or exchange. And so it was with Donald’s business actions; both parties always benefitting.

In addition, Donald’s word was his bond; he never went back on a deal. Once Donald committed, the entire resources of Duncan Aviation were also committed to making the deal work for the customer and the company. And although Duncan Aviation drew up written contracts, when a deal was made over the phone or with a handshake, it, too, was considered solid.

“Donald could read a customer better than anybody I’ve ever known,” remembers  J. Robert Duncan, Chairman Emeritus of Duncan Aviation and son of Donald Duncan. “He demonstrated great care and concern for his customers, and he always seemed to understand what their needs were.”

In addition to his ability to listen to customers and act to meet their needs, Donald had a strong sense of  creativity, drive and integrity. And he planted those seeds within the early company culture at Duncan Aviation, where those values continue to provide the solid foundation on which Duncan Aviation’s reputation rests.

Largely through the efforts of Donald Duncan, an entire generation of businesses learned what kind of freedom and flexibility could be attained through owning a business aircraft.

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.  

By now, almost all business aircraft operators are somewhat familiar with the upcoming NextGen mandates and understand the need to plan for them in conjunction with their next major maintenance event. But after talking with operators during the first day of the National Business Aviation Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, it is safe to say operators still have questions.

The top three questions operators are asking at the show are:

1. Does my aircraft have a solution?
2. How much will it cost?
3. What is the downtime going to be?

Certifying these new mandate solutions is a complicated process that requires collaboration between the equipment manufacturers, engineering teams, avionics installation experts and launch customers. The path to certification can be time-consuming and many solutions are being developed and announced weekly in the changing NextGen landscape.

Even when a solution does currently exist for an aircraft, there might be a more integrated and flexible one on the horizon that would be a better choice for an operator. Navigating these choices is difficult, which is why Duncan Aviation has allowed several of our avionics experts to really become immersed in the NextGen world. And in an effort to educate the industry, four of us are here at the NBAA convention to help operators as they research the solution that will be best for them and their aircraft long-term.

Stop by anytime to meet us.  Or take advantage of our NextGen Expert Hours and ask your most pressing questions to our full attending contingent of avionics gurus.

NextGen Expert Hours

9-11 a.m. Wednesday

9-11 am Thursday

In 1956, Duncan Aviation started as a three-person aircraft sales endeavor. It has since blossomed into a world-renowned aircraft support company with 2,200 team members who provide every service a business aircraft operator needs.

We thank our customers for being an integral part of our growth and innovation over the last six decades. You see, customer requests have been the essence of that growth. Clients came to us with requests for new services and ideas about how to better meet their needs. Our team members then collaborated and responded, adding capabilities, services, features and amenities.

Duncan Aviation’s comprehensive tip-to-tail service offerings exist because of specific customer requests made over the years, and the actions of Duncan Aviation team members to meet those requests. Our paint and interior completions, satellite avionics services, Rapid Response in-field engine services and accessory repair and overhaul all began with customer requests. So did myDuncan, our online project management and approval system, and our 24/7/365 parts support, where you can talk with a live parts expert anytime of the day or night.

As we celebrate some of the milestones of our history, we continue to keep an eye on the future. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with customers and together developing solutions and services that create an even better environment for the operation of business aircraft.

Just ask. We’ll act.  

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. 

Duncan Aviation believes strongly in developing business aviation by heavily investing in its people and facilities. So it should be no surprise that the company’s new booth (#N4910) for the 2015 National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) annual convention and exhibition Nov. 17-19 in Las Vegas will highlight every single one of the company’s 2,253 aviation experts.

The convention has long been an event where Duncan Aviation representatives catch up with longtime customers, vendors and business partners as well as begin developing relationships with new prospects. And every one of Duncan Aviation’s team members has developed great relationships, contacts and friendships with others throughout business aviation.

Realistically, of course, we cannot send everyone to the show. But we can make sure they are present in some form. That is why our booth once again highlights each and every team member’s photo scrolling through our booth display.

Stop by booth #N4910 and catch a glimpse of all of your Duncan Aviation contacts. While you’re at it, talk to the team members there who will be telling attendees how Duncan Aviation provides every support service a business aircraft operator needs today.

The industry is buzzing with questions about the upcoming mandates for NextGen, namely for ADS-B and FANS 1A. Duncan Aviation NextGen experts attending the NBAA convention in Las Vegas are prepared to answer those questions.

After hosting free NextGen seminars throughout 2015, Duncan Aviation avionics representatives know the questions operators are asking and have immersed themselves in the developing world of NextGen avionics so they are able to answer those questions.

These experts include the following:

Chris Christianson. Christianson is an avionics tech rep with Duncan Aviation who has been with the company more than 16 years. He has nose-to-tail knowledge of every avionics system installed and retrofited for today’s business jets from the analog systems of the Cessna 550 to the large, digital and fully integrated systems of the Falcon 7X, the Gulfstream G-450/550 and Global Express. His experience has involved every facet of avionics installation projects from STC development to standard field approval type installations/modifications with deep levels of integration.

Mark Francetic. Francetic is Duncan Aviation’s avionics regional sales manager and a Duncan Aviation team member for nearly 20 years. He has an associate’s degree in avionics and holds an A&P license. He has been educating operators about NextGen initiatives for two years at more than 20 different venues, is a member of the Honeywell and Bendix King Dealer Advisory Boards and has helped Duncan Aviation develop business plans for AML STCs on ADS-B and FANS/1A retrofit systems on multiple aircraft.

Dennis Kruse. Kruse is an avionics sales representative who has been with Duncan Aviation for 10 years. He spent eight years installing various avionics systems for Duncan Aviation and also worked as an avionics technician in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Melissa Raddatz. Raddatz is an avionics sales representative who has been with Duncan Aviation since 2011. She has an associtate’s degree in Aircraft Electonics, an A&P license, and a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Aviation Management. She has nearly three years of experience installing multiple avionics systems and has received formal training on the Falcon 50 and Falcon 50EX, Challenger 300, Troubleshooting and the Primus EPIC EASyII Line Maintenance. She has developed service guides for the Falcons on the mandates. In addition, she has attended several Dealer Advisory Boards for Rockwell Collins and Garmin.

Stop by anytime to meet these NextGen experts. Or take advantage of our Expert Hours and ask your most pressing questions to any of our full attending contingent of avionics gurus.

NextGen Expert Hours

1-3 p.m. Tuesday
9-11 a.m. Wednesday
9-11 am Thursday

For the most current information on the NextGen mandates, visit