The FAA has issued the first-ever repair station certificate covering all of a company’s facilities, in this case to Duncan Aviation. The single certificate incorporates under its Lincoln, Nebraska repair station certificate all of Duncan’s satellite facilities and additional fixed locations in Oxford, Connecticut; Bedford, Massachusetts; Teterboro and Morristown, New Jersey; and White Plains, New York. Other satellites and fixed locations, as well as its Battle Creek, Michigan, and Provo, Utah locations, were consolidated on December 10.
“Now, instead of consulting dozens of FAA Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) representatives in dozens of different locations throughout the country, every Duncan Aviation location will consult the FSDO in Lincoln, Nebraska,” according to the company.
The repair station consolidation will help Duncan deliver the same level of service to customers and enable FAA inspectors to focus more on safety rather than administrative issues.
“Theoretically, the service we provide has been the same no matter the location, but with each location dealing with different FAA personnel, there was always the possibility of slightly different interpretations of rules,” said enterprise quality manager Mike Mertens, who led the transition. “Now, with only one person, there will be one interpretation. As a result, we will be even more consistent in providing the same service at every location.”
Before the consolidation, Duncan had operated under a single repair station manual, but FAA oversight was still separate for each of the 23 different repair station certificates.
“We’re now able to send technicians from one location to another without worrying which repair station number they’re working under,” said enterprise manager of satellite operations Matt Nelson. “It will also allow us more flexibility in the addition and removal of certain capabilities.”
“This unification will simplify things dramatically for the FAA, by having only one group inspecting the standard requirements,” said Mertens.