If you know anything about Duncan Aviation, you know we own and operate aircraft with some of the most unique paint schemes in the industry.
There's no Matterhorn-white-with-a-stripe here. Instead, there is a baby blue Citation XLS with roses and ravens and a lime green Citation M2 with paint splatter. The aircraft are recognized worldwide, and are a testament to the creative people here at Duncan Aviation, the quality of work we do, and the trust the Duncan family has in their team members.
In 2023, we acquired a 10-year-old Pilatus PC-12 that needed avionics upgrades, heavy maintenance, new paint, and refurbished interior. We commissioned a design from world-renowned artist Derek DeYoung that reflects Board of Directors Chairman Todd Duncan’s passion for fishing and the outdoors. The final design, unveiled this spring, closely resembles a northern pike and has an iridescent purple nose that fades into green with ivory spots that turn warm yellow toward the belly. The aircraft features 16 formulated pearl colors, three of which are tri-coats. Six to eight more colors were blended to create transitions and high and low-light areas.
“It’s not a literal fish, it’s the experience,” Todd Duncan says. “To me, it’s about the experience you get when you go fishing, whether it’s a pond here in Nebraska, or somewhere more exotic. You load up all your equipment, grab the fellas, and go. That’s what this thing was built for, and I’m just so excited to take this all over the world.”
Learn more: www.DuncanAviation.aero/PC-12
The commissioned design for this aircraft was created in 2019 by renowned artist Nancy Friedemann Sánchez, a Colombian-American contemporary artist who has held exhibitions across the world and is based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her design was requested by Duncan Aviation Chairman Emeritus J. Robert Duncan and his wife Karen and brought to life on a company-owned Citation 560XLS through the aircraft artisans of our Lincoln-based, fullservice MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul). Nancy’s artwork draws heavily on things women would historically paint, like flowers, lace, and birds. After one of Nancy’s art shows, Karen made the comment that it would be great to see some of her flowers on an aircraft, adding that she also liked birds and was especially fond of ravens.
The aircraft features a Robin’s Egg Blue base with vibrant roses and ravens. The design process took more than 12 months and utilized 26 specific aviation paint colors.
Learn more: www.DuncanAviation.aero/roses-and-ravens
In 2017, we gave a newly acquired Bonanza a paint scheme that features different icons that represent the various services we provide to the business aviation community. The scheme was designed by Kaela Paseka, Creative Director and Project Manager in our Marketing Communications department, and painstakingly applied by the paint experts at our Battle Creek, Michigan, MRO facility.
Watch the video of how this aircraft came to life: www.DuncanAviation.aero/videos/custom-bonanza-paint-job
Robert and Karen Duncan surround themselves with the things they’re passionate about: aviation and art. When we acquired a new Citation M2 in 2013, they wanted the jet’s paint scheme to reflect the brush strokes of an abstract artist. The paint scheme was designed by now retired Senior Designer Teri Nekuda and was painted in Lincoln. It features a lime green base with red, blue, and yellow paint splatters.
Learn more: www.DuncanAviation.aero/lime-green-wonder
Although no longer flying for Duncan Aviation, we owned a Citation Mustang that in 2008 received a striking yellow-and-orange plaid scheme designed by retired designer Teri and painted in Lincoln. Teri says, “Adding a plaid to those light colors created some dissonance because typically plaid is bold with great contrast. I think I broke all the rules in some ways with that aircraft, but it worked, and we got the one-of-a-kind result Robert was looking for.”
Nicknamed “Spiderman Lear,” our first unusual looking aircraft was a red-and-black LR-35A. It was painted in 2003 and is no longer flying. It, too, was designed by Teri and painted in Lincoln.