The Duncan Download Blog: Business Aviation Advice & Observations

Contributed by Kaela Paseka, graphic design lead

At static on the first day of NBAA, business aviation owners, operators and enthusiasts continually flowed through this Falcon 900B aircraft on display and were impressed by its transformation with a stunning interior and avionics package upgrade.

Avionics Transformation

Duncan Aviation and Universal Avionics partnered to transform a Dassault Falcon 900B by installing Universal’s EFI-890 glass box cockpit. This cockpit upgrade replaced 25 older instruments, significantly improving reliability and situational awareness, and offers advanced capabilities like WAAS-LPV and FANS 1/A.

“If you want an aircraft that’s predictable to operate, properly supported and can hold its value this newly retrofitted aircraft is the way to go,” says Gary Harpster, senior avionics installation sales rep for Duncan Aviation.

Additional avionics installed include Rockwell Collin’s Venue Cabin Management System that allows passengers to watch movies on demand on high-definition displays and conduct business, seamlessly. With Collin’s new Skybox cabin sharing, passengers can securely share movies, TV shows and music wirelessly between the on-board Apple iTunes library, Apple iOS devices and the cabin displays.

Interior Transformation

In addition to the avionics installations, Duncan Aviation completed several interior upgrades, including complete soft good refurbishment, new cabinet veneer, Duncan Design Collection PSU overlay panels, EMTEQ LED lighting and much more.

You still have time to visit and walk through this Falcon 900B today and Thursday. The aircraft is currently at NBAA static display #140 at the Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gary Harpster and Duncan Aviation’s Avionics Tech Rep, Chris Christenson, will be on-site for a personal tour and demonstration.

Click here to view more NBAA photos on Duncan Aviation's facebook page.

Kaela Paseka is Duncan Aviation’s Graphic Design Lead at its Lincoln, Nebraska, headquarters. She is responsible for all elements of visual communication, including publication design, industry advertising and companywide branding. She is currently attending NBAA 2013. Her aviation career began 2006.

Right now there are approximately 20 to 25 Falcon 900Bs on the market available for sale. In talking with these owners, I’ve learned the majority of these aircraft were placed up for sale over the concern there was no upgrade path to meet the upcoming mandates and essentially rendering the aircraft as domestic use only.

I totally get it. Who wants an aircraft capable of Mach .84 - .87 that can travel 4,600 miles and only be able to fly it in the 48 contiguous states? 

Universal EFI-890

On the Falcon 900B, the engines, airframe and accessories are still highly supported. Therefore, the weak link in this analysis becomes the avionics. However I am hear to tell you, when it comes to meeting the needs of the mandates for both the U.S and abroad, there is a clear path.

With the installation of the Universal EFI-890 solution, a Falcon 900B gains many of the same capabilities of new production aircraft and in some cases, even more. Charts, weather, synthetic vision, electronic engine gauges, camera input, new LED displays, WAAS FMS with LPV and the necessary accuracy to fly in Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications (MNPS) airspace.

Want to fly to Europe and fly in the most favorable tracks doing so? This is the solution.

Want to jump up into the airspace over Europe on the bosses schedule and not when air traffic allows you to depart? This is your solution.

Add winglets, new custom interior and paint, a state of the art entertainment system and you have yourself one heck of an aircraft that will meet the needs of the future for the next 10 years.

Or as an option you could buy a used aircraft with these capabilities for more than seven and a half times what this upgrade would cost you.  Keeping in mind that if you wanted the custom paint, interior and entertainment – that would all be additional.

On Display at NBAA

Why just read about it when you can come see it. During NBAA at static display #140 on the Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas, I personally invite you to walk through and see a Falcon 900B with the first EFI-890R cockpit retrofit upgrade. I will be on-hand to answer any of your questions, as well as representatives from Universal Avionics.

Also featured on this aircraft is a newly designed interior, new paint and new cabin/management/entertainment system; all completed by Duncan Aviation. 

How weak is that link now? 

Interior engineers often need to think outside the box to come up with one-of-a-kind solutions for customers, and one of those solutions—a forward lavatory conversion to a storage space in two Dassault Falcon models—has caught on among Duncan Aviation customers.

A portion of Falcon 900 and 2000 aircraft have two lavatories. In those aircraft, the front lavatory often remains unused for its intended purpose and is transformed into a makeshift storage compartment. Duncan Aviation’s design and engineering teams collaborated to craft a custom cabinet to replace the forward lavatory in both Falcon aircraft so customers could choose from a variety of dedicated storage options or a preparation station instead of struggling to utilize it as a provisional closet.

“The problem is a lot like your closet at home. If you just stack and throw things in there, an avalanche of belongings is always looming,” says Jeff Beaudette, engineering team leader.

The collaboration resulted in a cabinet solution that completely replaced the lavatory while retaining the plumbing. Duncan Aviation has modified three aircraft since creating the solution.  

“We capped all the lines from the toilet and built a cabinet insert that molded around the old chute just in case the next owner wanted to reinstate the lavatory,” says Steve Rosenow, cabinet team leader.

The lavatory is nestled between the galley and the jump seat, and the space is anything but standard.

Steve says the initial Falcon 900 customer requested a large ice drawer in the bottom and a coat closet up top, but the space looks a bit like a soda bottle, so it took a bit of finagling to ensure they utilized every square inch.

“Customers just want the option—the opportunity to define that space when they sell the aircraft or if their needs change while they own the aircraft,” says Rosenow. “And that’s what we’re here to do. We create a custom solution that affords them countless options.”

As for the Falcon 2000, the modification was very similar to the previous 900 storage swap.

Duncan Aviation provided a cooled catering box storage, crew closet, upper storage and a lower drawer. The storage conversion was done in addition to a partial paint, left-hand forward crew closet modification, left-hand entertainment cabinet modification, removal of tray storage, removal of a microwave and the addition of a passenger coat closet.

Duncan Aviation will accommodate almost all requests and provides customers versatility in both design as well as engineering. The company requesting the modification owns another Falcon 2000 with significantly more storage and preferred those capabilities.

“All three of the modifications we completed are similar, but differ greatly in their final function. There is no such thing as a standard part or design. Many items may be very similar, but the customization for the customer is the key,” says Beaudette.

Duncan Aviation's custom interiors have come to be admired around the world not only for their beauty but also for their innovative style and durability. View Duncan Aviation's interior galleries here.