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Duncan Aviation has revealed the recently refurbished Falcon 50, complete with new exterior paint and a full interior refurbishment.
The Falcon 50 was brought to the Duncan Aviation team by a first-time customer. After the pre-purchase evaluation was completed at Duncan's Battle Creek, Michigan facility the team began the transformation. The Falcon 50 not only underwent a full interior refurbishment and had the exterior repainted, but it had an aft cabin reconfiguration with new divan installation, avionics upgrades, winglets and LED lightning.Cabin refurbishement
The customer told Senior Completions andamp; Modifications Sales Rep Tiffany Buschini that they heard about the quality of work Duncan provides, along with the company's reputation, and did not want to take the aircraft anywhere else. Buschini said that the owners requested the addition of a divan as part of the refurbishment. To add the divan, the team 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," Buschini said. "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."Interior refresh and custom upgrades
Buschini said the interior was not in poor condition when it arrived, but the new owners requested a complete refresh and some personalization to fit their tastes. The new, modern interior also included unique additions, like cupholders and gallery inserts that the Duncan team designed and customized to hold handmade pottery mugs the owner's friend creates.
"Our Cabinet Shop built a custom-fit insert to store these mugs in a galley drawer," Designer Jack Bauder said. "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 team developed measurements and drawings for production which the Manufacturing Solutions team then produced in-house. The custom one-off cupholders are 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," Buschini said.
The Duncan team also made several other modifications to the interior, removing the existing mirrors and trim in the lav and adding custom light covers to provide a more modern look. The LED lighting brightens the space and makes it feel more contemporary. The Falcon features two-tone seats with diamond-patterned quilted inserts, completed by an automated CNC machine. All of the cabinetry in the cabin was treated with hydrographic finishes and one-piece Duncan-designed Passenger Service Unit panels were installed.Avionics and company firsts
The Falcon was given an avionics upgrade, including a Collins Aerospace Pro Line 21 Integrated Avionics System and Future Air Navigation System 1/A (Fans-1/A) with ATN-B1 Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC). Senior Avionics Sales Rep Mike Morgan said this was the first time Duncan Aviation installed the Collins CMU-4000+ CMU for FANS-1/A andamp; ATN-B1 with the Pro Line 21 system into a Falcon 50EX. The aircraft also received a new Collins Aerospace Synthetic Vision System.
"Dassault was working on a CMU-4000+ STC for this installation, and it was proposed to use this project as the conforming aircraft," Morgan said.
Morgan said the new owner was concerned about the serviceability of the outdated Cabin Management System. To alleviate some of the concerns, the Duncan team installed the Alto Cadence CMS. During the process of quoting the new LED lighting, the team was approached by Aircraft Lighting International about installing its new multi-colored LED lighting system. The customer agreed, marking another first. This was the first time the ALI multi-colored LED Lighting system was installed in an aircraft at Duncan Aviation.