Duncan Aviation’s Cincinnati Satellite Shop is Counting: 15 Weeks Until The ADS-B Deadline

Sept. 20, 2019
Duncan Aviation’s Bruce Miller has noticed a sudden flurry of quote requests as customers realize the FAA’s deadline for upgrading to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast quickly approaching.

Duncan Aviation’s Bruce Miller, the manager of the company’s Satellite Avionics Shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, has noticed a sudden flurry of quote requests as customers realize the FAA’s deadline for upgrading to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is quickly approaching. For those who are counting, and Miller definitely is, there are 15 weeks left.

Among the aircraft for which Miller recently scheduled upgrades at the Cincinnati Satellite Shop are a Cessna 550 and a King Air. According to data amassed by Duncan Aviation’s Market Research team, only 43 percent of the Cessna Citation 550/551s in the United States have been upgraded. Statistics for the turboprop King Air are more heartening with roughly 61% in compliance.

“We’re putting the Garmin GTX-345 in the 550,” says Miller. “We have other paths to certify King Airs, but we opted for the Garmin solution based on the equipment in the customer’s cockpit.”  

Miller and Nate Kling, one of the avionics techncians at Duncan Aviation’s Cincinnati shop, have recently upgraded several Gulfstream 200s and Beechjet 400s for ADS-B.

“We’ve done a few upgrades in our hangar and a couple for customers right here at the airport,” says Miller. “We’ve also traveled up to two hours away to perform upgrades for customers at the Knox County Airport in Mount Vernon, at The Ohio State University airport in Franklin County, and at the Butler County Regional Airport. We try to be as accommodating to our customers’ schedules as possible, and if that entails traveling to where they are, we’ll do it.”

As with managers at the other Duncan Aviation Satellite Shops, Miller is seeing customers who have already upgraded to ADS-B turn their attention to other avionics installations.

“Although we still have space available, we are turning out quote requests for installing the Gogo AVANCE L5,” says Miller. “I’m advising our customers who don’t have ADS-B that if they want to get their aircraft in compliance before the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline, they should schedule now.”

Duncan Aviation holds or has access to 42 Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) for FAA-approved ADS-B equipment for more than 100 models.

“Give us a call and let us help you put together a plan for you to get your aircraft into compliance,” says Manager of Satellite Operations Matt Nelson. “If your aircraft is down for an inspection, contact us to have one of our eminently qualified techs come to your hangar to perform the upgrade."