All three of Duncan Aviation's full-service facilities located in Lincoln, Nebraska, Battle Creek, Michigan, and Provo, Utah, now offer SWAT services. SWAT stands for: S: Survey aircraft interiors; W: Write prompt quotes; A: Artistically clean, touch-up, dye and correct; and T: Transform appearance and functionality.

The goal of the Duncan Aviation SWAT teams is to go through the aircraft and take care of the small items that are not part of the scheduled service. The reason is aesthetics; small things like touching up paint, spot dying leather seats and resewing curtain glides can give the interior a facelift.

“We are excited to add the SWAT capabilities as part of this phase of our growth in Provo,” says modification manager Jeff Schipper. “We'll continue to bolster our modifications capabilities as our teams grow to meet the ever-increasing demand for modification services.”

Duncan Aviation developed these services years ago because SWAT is synonymous with preventative maintenance. The company's teams can do a little work to a customer's interiors, making small improvements by repairing the little nicks, scuffs, scratches and dings, and those minor fixes go a long way to help hold the value of the aircraft.

In late 2020, interior SWAT team leader Mike Upah reached out to completions crew leader Robert LaGrange and asked him if he'd be interested in helping build a SWAT team for Duncan Aviation's Provo facility. Upah has worked at Duncan Aviation since 1996, getting his start in the cabinet shop at the Lincoln facility. He learned about aviation working on B-52s while serving in the USAF in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. LaGrange has eight years of experience working on aircraft interiors, and attention to detail has always been his strong suit.

“I leapt at the chance and was excited to be both working on the floor and developing a new service from scratch,” says LaGrange. “I understand the benefits of a SWAT team for the company, our team members and customers; we're building our future, and as we grow, we are keeping the same experience that Duncan Aviation's customers are accustomed to getting in Lincoln and Battle Creek.”

Although Duncan Aviation has had a presence at the Provo Municipal Airport since 2010, the company recently expanded its facilities to include multiple buildings and hangars to provide its west coast customers with the same range of services that are available at its other full-service facilities, including paint, interior completions, avionics installations, engine overhaul and repair.