Duncan Aviation is excited to showcase a Falcon 50 that its aircraft artisans recently refurbished. The Duncan Aviation team gave the aircraft new exterior paint, full interior refurbishment, aft cabin reconfiguration with new divan installation, avionics upgrades, winglets, and LED lighting.
After the aircraft’s pre-purchase evaluation was completed at Duncan Aviation’s Battle Creek, Michigan, facility, the team immediately began the transformation process. The first-time customer told Senior Completions & Modifications Sales Rep Tiffany Buschini that they had heard about the quality of work Duncan Aviation provides and the reputation the company has, and that they didn’t want to take the aircraft anywhere else.
Cabin Reconfiguration
Buschini explained that as part of the refurbishment, the owners wanted to add a divan. To meet their request, they removed the existing right-hand aft single seats, and installed a right-hand, three-place divan. The team also replaced the pull-up jumpseat with a side-facing jumpseat.
“They had explained to me that the flight attendant had expressed concern about sitting on a pull-up jump seat,” said Buschini. “To create a more comfortable and enjoyable experience, we added a side-facing jumpseat. This also creates more space for the crew to get in and out of the flight deck when someone is seated in the jumpseat.”
Complete Refresh & Unique Additions
Buschini explained that the interior wasn’t necessarily in poor condition when it arrived at the Duncan Aviation facility, but the new owners wanted a complete refresh, and they wanted to personalize it to fit their tastes. The result is a modern and striking interior that has a few unique additions.
One of the unique aspects of the interior are the cupholders and galley inserts that the Duncan Aviation team designed and customized to hold handmade pottery mugs that the owner’s friend creates.
“Our Cabinet Shop built a custom-fit insert to store these mugs in a galley drawer,” said Designer Jack Bauder. “We also created the concept for a multi-level cupholder, which can accommodate both these mugs or highball glasses in a single unit.”
The Duncan Aviation Engineering team developed the measurements and drawings for production, which Duncan Aviation’s Duncan Manufacturing Solutions team then produced in-house.
The new, custom, one-off cupholders were installed throughout the cabin and include a specific spot to put the passengers’ lowball whiskey glasses and highball glasses.
“This is just another example of how Duncan Aviation can harness our in-house capabilities to fit our customers’ specific needs,” said Buschini.
The team also made modifications to the interior by removing the existing mirrors and trim in the lav and adding custom light covers to give it a more modern look. The new LED lighting makes the area brighter and more contemporary.
The aircraft also features two-tone seats with diamond-patterned, quilted inserts that were completed using an automated CNC machine. All of the cabinetry in the cabin was treated with hydrographic finishes and new, one-piece modern Duncan-designed Passenger Service Unit (PSU) panels were installed.
A Couple of Firsts
The aircraft also received a much-needed avionics upgrade, including a Collins Aerospace Pro Line 21 Integrated Avionics System and Future Air Navigation System 1/A (FANS-1/A) w/ATN-B1 Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC).
Senior Avionics Sales Rep Mike Morgan explained that this was the first time Duncan Aviation installed the Collins CMU-4000+ CMU for FANS-1/A & ATN-B1 with the Pro Line 21 system into a Falcon 50EX.
“Dassault was working on a CMU-4000+ STC for this installation, and it was proposed to use this project as the conforming aircraft,” said Morgan.
Morgan also explained that the new owner had concerns about the serviceability of the outdated Cabin Management System (CMS). To mitigate these concerns, the team installed the Alto Cadence CMS.
During the process of quoting new LED lighting, the Duncan Aviation team was approached by Aircraft Lighting International (ALI) about installing their new multi-colored LED Lighting system. The customer was receptive, making this the first time the ALI multi-colored LED Lighting system was installed in an aircraft at Duncan Aviation.
The aircraft also received a new Collins Aerospace Synthetic Vision System.