The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

In 2015, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Duncan Aviation Avionics Satellite Network with locations at the busiest business airports across the United States. And to think it all started with a trip to the store to buy shoes. 

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In the early 1980s, Karen and Robert Duncan were shopping for shoes in Hovland Swanson, a locally owned department store in Lincoln, Nebraska. The experience was a pleasant one, and Robert mentioned to the manager how impressed he had been with the salesman’s knowledge and efficiency. The manager then surprised Robert by telling him that Hovland Swanson knew what it didn’t know about shoes and had asked a national retailer to rent space in the shoe department and sell its shoes at Hovland Swanson.

The partnership worked; the national retailer had access to Hovland Swanson’s local customers, and the customers had access to well-made shoes sold locally by a national retailer.

The experience reminded Robert of Duncan Aviation’s busy avionics shop. The techs had the skill and expertise to fix anything, but there were a finite number of them, and they were located in Lincoln while potential customers with avionics problems were at airports in other cities around the country.

Artis rendering of the first aircraft avionics satellite shop circa 1985.

With the model of Hovland Swanson and the national shoe retailer in mind, Robert conceived of a similar business model for Duncan Aviation. He envisioned a series of partnerships with well-respected shops at busy airports around the country. There were several established shops that catered to our core aircraft but lacked an aircraft avionics presence.  

“At this point, I give credit for the whole program to Don Fiedler,” says Robert. “It was my concept, but it was Don Fiedler who ran with it.”

Robert harnessed Don’s energy to his vision and within two years, Duncan Aviation had opened its first satellite location at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas. Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland, Ohio followed later that year, and in 1986, Duncan Aviation added two more satellite avionics shops.

“I looked for business partners who shared Duncan Aviation’s ideals of exemplary service and integrity,” says Don.

In the intervening 30 years, Duncan Aviation has added 21 more shops at airports near our customers in an effort to make avionics work on their aircraft or parts as easy and convenient as possible. We now have a network of 25 avionics satellite shops around the United States from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale and Bridgeport to Van Nuys.

 

Inflight internet was the ubiquitous gift of the digital age. The engineers and equipment manufacturers in some cases were so focused on connectivity that security often had to take a backseat. The result was weakness in the system’s ability to withstand a cyber-attack.

Whether an aircraft owner is a private individual or a large corporation, it is clear that everyone needs to consider data security in their flight operations. Most airborne IT security concerns fall into three main areas: service provider security, physical security, and your individual software and hardware policies. While this initial discussion is a 50,000 foot view of airborne data security, the following articles in this series will delve deeper into the particulars.

Service providers are the gatekeepers of your traffic in many circumstances, whether you are using Inmarsat Satcom, 3G, or GoGo. They are responsible for making sure that the data sent and received is not intercepted in a manner that is usable by others for nefarious purposes. They are also responsible for defending their data centers against service interruptions by potential man-made or natural disasters. 

Physical IT security is also very important. Many intelligence operations involve theft or tampering with portable electronic devices. These can be laptops or cell phones. These sorts of attacks are more common than most would like to admit and often lead to individuals being personally compromised.

Your individual IT policies have a lot to do with how safe you are. Using a WEP Encrypted Wi-Fi connection on the ground at Teterboro could have disastrous results for your VIP, not to mention your Satcom bill. The myth often shared by people is that hacking or identity theft is something that happens to the “other person.” The sad reality is that there are always barbarians at our digital gates whether we choose to acknowledge them or not.

When I watched the movie “Hackers” in 1995, the notion of teenagers masterminding an attack on a corporate mainframe seemed pretty pie-in-the-sky. The reality though is that there have been numerous examples of children cracking into secure servers even at the DOD level.

We are all under attack. The goal is not make your aircraft an impenetrable IT fortress. The aim should be to make others an easier target and prevent the most crippling attacks.

 

Adrian Chene is an Avionics Tech Rep for Duncan Aviation. He provides troubleshooting and technical advice on avionics installation services, and specializes in custom, integrated HSD solutions. He began working in aviation in 1996.

 

They share many passions, including contemporary art, flying, great food, adventure and more. It was the quest for art that took them on their World Art Adventure.

This is the second such adventure for the two couples. Two years ago they toured South America, discovered dozens of artists, made new friends and returned home with fabulous additions to their respective collections.

The itinerary for this trip did not include stops at traditional art cities, but rather new centers where innovative things are happening in the world art scene. Stops included:

Reykjavik, Iceland; Stockholm, Sweden; St. Petersburg, Russia; Moscow, Russia; Warsaw, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Istanbul, Turkey; Dubai, India; Mumbai, India; Delhi, India; Hanoi, Vietnam; Seoul, South Korea

“The cultures and the character of the cities varied widely, but the people are all the same. They care about their families, each other and in our case, have a passion for art,” said Robert Duncan.

When asked what his favorite spot was along the route, he responded, “Which is your favorite child? They were all unique and each offered us something to remember. We are very fortunate souls!”

Along the way, they took hundreds of photos and videos that captured unique art pieces and the artists who created them in their studios/homes, including several from the view above the clouds in the M2.

To read more about their journey, visit: www.worldartadventure.wordpress.com.

Do any of you remember when the Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) mandate went into effect on January 20, 2005? There were 6,500 business aircraft that required upgrades for that mandate, and most installation facilities were at capacity for two full years prior to that deadline.

After the RVSM mandate went into effect, many operators were forced to fly below 29,000 feet until they upgraded their equipment. And some were inconvenienced for quite some time because installation facilities were filled to capacity for an entire year after the deadline.

As most business aircraft owner/operators know, the Federal Aviation Administration set a January 1, 2020 deadline to comply with the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) mandate. That deadline is approximately 1,130 working days away, and the FAA estimates there are 18,500 business aircraft (Amstat, Jets and Turboprops) that still need to upgrade their equipment.

If any of those business Part 25 aircraft intend to fly above 10,000 feet and in and out of airports with control towers after Jan. 1, 2020, they are going to have to be equipped with a WAAS/SBAS GPS, a 1090MHz Mode S Extended Squitter (1090ES) transponder and cockpit failure annuciators.

Facilities with avionics capabilities like Duncan Aviation have capacity today to handle the increased volume. In the coming months, though, as more and more aircraft need to schedule equipment upgrades, they’ll have to compete for hangar space with aircraft that are scheduled for inspections and maintenance events. Additionally, many avionics manufacturers are offering incentives today, but as the deadline approaches and demand increases, prices will definitely go up.

There are roughly three times as many business aircraft that require ADS-B Out equipment than required RVSM equipment, and without the ADS-B upgrades, those aircraft won’t be merely inconvenienced; they’ll be grounded until they comply.

When it comes to business aviation, I always tell my customers, “Best equipped, best served.”

For access the latest and most complete information about the upcoming mandates, go to Duncan Aviation's online Nextgen resource.

Contributed by Mark Francetic, regional avionics sales manager

Today, Duncan Aviation team members across the country are celebrating Duncan Aviation’s Founder’s Day. Saturday, August 22, marks the 93^rd birthday of our founder, the late Donald Duncan.

That day is made more special as it is also the birthday of his grandson Todd Duncan, Chairman Duncan Aviation. And keeping with the theme of family birthdays, in the not too distance future on September 24^th, Chairman Emeritus, J. Robert Duncan will be celebrating his birthday.

And so we celebrate!

Founder’s Day gives us all the opportunity to pause and reflect on Duncan Aviation’s past while also looking forward to a promising future. This would not be possible without the hard work, dedication and attitudes of each of our team members. Thank you to all of your contributions to the success of Duncan Aviation.

We also want to thank our many customers, partners and friends throughout the aviation world. We appreciate your business and friendship. 

In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed this day, August 19, to be National Aviation Day to celebrate the history and development of aviation. This date coincides with the birthday of Orville Wright who, together with his brother Wilbur, made significant contributions to powered flight.

Today, like every other day of the year, Duncan Aviation celebrates aviation as the largest, family owned business aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company in the world, with over 2,000 employees. We celebrate with gratitude, as the perseverance of the Wright brothers has made a huge impact on the lives of everyone within business aviation. 

For the next two days, Duncan Aviation will celebrate its Founder’s Day, commemorating Donald Duncan’s birthday. Donald is the company’s founder and the grandfather to Duncan Aviation’s Chairman, Todd Duncan. This is a day for Duncan Aviation team members to pause and reflect on Duncan Aviation’s rich history while looking forward to a promising future.

That history is based upon a set of ideals passed down from Donald through Robert Duncan, Duncan Aviation’s Chairman Emeritus, and now to Todd Duncan. These values are dedicated to keeping a family culture as the company grew, no matter how many employees or locations. From the beginning, Duncan Aviation’s Core Values were not something that had to be memorized or learned by employees because they were simply a description of who they were and how they did business every day. Duncan Aviation team members embody excellence and a passion for aviation that shows in their work every day.

Duncan Aviation Across Six Decades

Duncan Aviation was established in 1956 in Clarinda, Iowa, during the prosperous years after WWI and earliest years of business aviation. You could say they have been in the business from the beginning and played a major part in its early development.  

Over the next six decades, Duncan Aviation grew from a single location in Omaha, Nebraska, to an international business aviation pioneer with locations all across the United States and team members around the globe.

Duncan Pride

Aviation is obviously very important to us. We live it every day. For many team members, who hold personal and commercial pilots license and still go flying on evenings and weekends after they have spent their entire day or week working on someone else’s aircraft, it is a passion. They say it’s in the blood.

Watch Duncan Aviation’s Core Values video, as team members express why the company’s Core Values resonate so much with their teams and how they can be seen in every aspect of their workday.

Let’s All Scream For Ice Cream

Every day is the National Day of something. And because there are so many things wanting their day in the spotlight, some have to share. So while we reminisce about aviation history, how it’s changed and where it’s headed, go out and grab your favorite soft-serve because it’s National Soft Ice Cream Day too!  

"As we grow, our issues are not just our issues, but issues we share with others. By becoming active members of our industry associations, we have an opportunity to be side-by-side with our industry peers, competitors and customers, to learn their concerns and needs so that we can come alongside them and help them exactly when they need us. It is only through the conversations and relationships we gain by being active in these associations that we move our industry forward."  

Todd Duncan, Duncan Aviation chairman

Duncan Aviation has been a member of the Aviation Electronics Association (AEA) since 1970 after Ron Hall (above), a retired Duncan Aviation avionics sales rep, attended his first AEA convention in Kansas City.

According to Ron, those early conventions were small, with only about 150 people and booths consisting of little more than cardboard structures with a table.

In those early days, AEA drew companies together to discuss their frustrations and share their ideas and successes with the latest technical information. Even though many were competitors, they shared anyway in order to make the industry better. Ron says it was this collaboration that helped Duncan Aviation to grow from a small radio and instrument shop into an experienced facility with technicians specializing in the maintenance, repair and installation of the latest in avionics technology.

Duncan Aviation Avionics Sales Rep Ron Hal was an AEA board member for 20 years.

Shortly after his first convention, Ron joined the AEA Board of Directors and stayed for 20 years. During those two decades, Duncan Aviation hosted three regional meetings in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In 1985, Ron was named the AEA Member of the Year. And because of his dedication and continued involvement in AEA during his entire career, he received the AEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011—the highest honor bestowed on an AEA member.

Duncan Aviation's AEA involvement and influence didn't end with Ron's retirement. Gary Harpster, avionics installation sales rep, stepped up and actively participated at several regional and national AEA events. As a well-known expert in the industry on NextGen technology, he has presented educational sessions to operators around the world.

Gary was an active board member, serving as vice chairman and chairman of the board for several years. He also served on the AEA Trusteeship Committee and was named 2008 AEA Member of the Year.

Another chapter in Duncan Aviation's AEA history unfolded in 2014, when Mike Minchow, manager of completions and avionics sales, was among the newly elected directors selected by the members of AEA.

Today, AEA boasts nearly 1,300 member companies in 43 countries.

In The Trenches

Business aviation association governing boards work to benefit our industry as a whole, bringing about long-term changes and future growth. But oftentimes, it’s in the trenches of the subcommittees and regional events where the day-to-day issues that impact business aviation are addressed. Many of Duncan Aviation’s tech reps, department leaders, regional managers and sales representatives meet many times a year in these industry subcommittees.

AEA Subcommittee

Mike Chick, manager of engineering certification—SMS/21

 

We are inside of five years now and rapidly closing in on the 2020 deadline for the NextGen equipment upgrades mandated by the FAA.

Do you know all that you need to know?  

Do you know what you don't know? 

Do you know where to go to find out?

 

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If you want access the latest and most complete information about all things NextGen, you have hit pay dirt!  

And you can collect it here: www.DuncanAviation.aero/nextgen

The Duncan Aviation NextGen Information page is the go-to place for information about all aspects of the NextGen initiatives.

There you will find

• a countdown to see exactly how many days, hours and minutes remain before January 1, 2020.
• links to the equipment available for various make/model aircraft
• contact information for all of our avionics experts around the country
• publications about NextGen, including the Straight Talk about NextGen, the Straight Talk about ADS-B, blogs, and other articles about NextGen components.
• top questions operators have regarding NextGen
• a detailed timeline of dates for the NextGen mandates (downloadable!)
• an informative webinar about FANS 1/A

Several Duncan Aviation's avionics team have been traveling the United States for a couple of years, holding free NextGen seminars. To find out more about these seminars or any of Duncan Aviation's other speaking engagements, check the Upcoming Duncan Aviation NextGen Events section of the web page for dates, times and registration information.

What are you wainting for? GO!

www.DuncanAviation.aero/nextgen

When acquiring or upgrading a business aircraft, selecting the right make/model is one of your most important decisions. Duncan Aviation’s Aircraft Sales and Acquisitions team can help you narrow your selection with the use of a comprehensive and up-to-date Model/Market Summary. The summary data is compiled for the light jet, mid-size jet and long-range jet categories. And the team regularly updates the data in these lists with the latest market intelligence on business aircraft models in operation today and how they compare to others in the same size category.The Model/Market Summary is sorted by the seats-full range for aircraft built in the last decade. It displays one-line descriptions detailing several attributes, including the following:

• Years Produced. The range of years the model was in production.
• Vref Price Range. The current marketing value according to the Vref - Aircraft Value Reference.
• Variable Cost / Hour. The estimated cost to operate the aircraft at full capacity.
• Normal Cruise Speed.
• Cabin Volume / Length / Height.
• Cabin Seats. The number of available seats on the aircraft.
• Expected Avionics. The expected avionics found in the Flightdeck.
• NBAA IFR Range-Seats Full. The list is sorted by this, the flight range in nautical miles with all seats full.
• NBAA IFR Range Ferry. Flight range in nautical miles with no passengers.
• Payload with Fuel Full. In pounds.
• Average Fuel Burn. In gallons per hour.
• Pilots Required. The number of pilots required to fly the aircraft.

The data in this summary is a good starting point when considering your first aircraft or your next upgrade. All the data in these reports comes from Conklin & de Decker aviation information, the aircraft manufacturers’ preliminary data and Vref valuations. 

ADVICE

Doug Kvassay, aircraft sales representative at Duncan  Aviation, first developed the Model/Market Summary when a client called asking for advice over lunch about upgrading his light business jet to one that had a little more payload and range. Doug wanted to make the process of narrowing down the search as easy as possible, so in the days leading up to their meeting, he created a listing of every model in the light jet category, taking care to detail several attributes. Through a process of simple elimination, by the end of their lunch, Doug and his customer had identified an aircraft model to investigate further. They closed on an available one just one month later.

Seeing how much easier this tool made the identification of the most appropriate model of aircraft for the specific needs of his client, Doug shared his concept with the rest of the Duncan Aviation Aircraft Sales and Acquisitions team. Since then, they have honed the information and expanded it to other size categories. Now, they publish it quarterly.Download the latest model/market summary now. 

 

If you've been to the Lincoln Airport recently, you might have noticed a 14,000-pound, 23-foot-tall metal paper airplane sculpture gracing the roadside along the way. And you probably asked yourself, where did that come from? And why is it located at the corner of West Adams and NW 12th streets?

The Duncan Family Trust Foundation, created by the Karen and Robert Duncan family to give back to the communities that support Duncan Aviation, donated the sculpture as part of Lincoln's Entryway Project and hired only local talent to create its permanent installation.

Anne Pagel, curator for avid art collectors Karen and Robert Duncan, contacted Lincoln artist Shannon Hansen of Hansen Sculpture to design the iconic image, titled Pitch, Roll & Yaw.

"The sculpture is not meant to be a deep abstract work, it's a unique and playful piece that everyone can relate to," says Hansen.

Lincoln's own Rivers Metals Products fabricated the massive sculpture, boasting a 20-foot wingspan, and delivered it to Duncan Aviation's paint department in May for a top-notch aircraft paint job prior to its installation July 21.

View the installation gallery as the sculpture lands at its permanently location.

"The paper airplane has been around for more than 2,100 years, in one form or another. This iconic image signifies the joy and wonder that attracts many to aviation," says Connie Duncan, Duncan Family Trust Foundation trustee and wife of Todd Duncan. "We are so honored to take part in this project and provide the city with a piece of aviation everyone can enjoy," she says.