"Radar Season" hit's North America around the beginning of April, a time of year when storms make a properly functioning radar even more critical.

Malfunctioning Component?
You Can Trust the Experienced Duncan Aviation Team to Quickly & Efficiently Repair & Return It

Obviously, pilots can see clear, blue skies. And they can usually see greenish, cumulonimbus tornado clouds and even those slate-gray, nimbostratus clouds looming on the horizon so they can arrange to fly around or above them. However, radar units help them prepare for what lies a little farther ahead. Typically, with the Honeywell Primus 870 Weather Radar unit, a pilot can see a sweep of a 300-mile radius on the screen, so he or she knows how to prepare for the near future.

Duncan Aviation radar technicians use the term “Radar Season” to describe the time of year when high winds and instability in the lower atmosphere collide with cooler air in the upper atmosphere to whip up severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. Radar Season hits North America around the beginning of April, and that’s when pilots rely heavily on their radar units to perform perfectly and give them plenty of warning regarding any severe weather they may encounter.

Knowing this, when Duncan Aviation receives a radar unit to repair, the technicians strive to quickly isolate problems and get the much-needed radar system back to the waiting pilot. In fairness, though, Duncan Aviation technicians do that with every component they receive, not just radar units and not just during “Radar Season.”

Everyone, from the Tech Reps who help customers troubleshoot to the Entry Specialists in Shipping & Receiving to the Radar Technicians who actually repair the radar unit know that the longer an aircraft is “Aircraft On Ground” (AOG), the more money it’s costing the operator.

So every component, whether it’s an autopilot system, a gyro, or a radar unit, receives the same efficient treatment from the experienced Duncan Aviation technicians. To show you what goes on behind the scenes, let’s walk through the arrival of a unit for repair.

Not On The Radar

Let’s say a chief pilot has been experiencing sporadic problems with a Primus 870. He calls Dan Magnus, a Duncan Aviation Tech Rep since 1976 and currently the Avionics Tech Rep Team Leader. If the pilot knows what’s wrong with the unit, he’ll probably tell Dan, who will open a tentative work order.

In all likelihood, the chief pilot will know what’s wrong with the Primus 870 because it has an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), which displays error codes on-screen when the radar unit is malfunctioning.

If the pilot were dealing with a weather radar unit that didn’t display error codes, though, he might describe the problem to Dan. For instance, he may describe the full sweep of the radar as having a pinwheel effect. Dan will note that in the work order as a “spoking” problem, typically caused by erratic frequency changes, which could be indicative of a magnetron failure.

When the pilot decides to send the faulty radar unit in for repair, he or she (or the company he works for) may request a loaner so there’s no downtime for his aircraft. Dan or one of the Customer Account Reps can arrange to send a replacement “loaner” unit. If there are no loaners available or the pilot doesn’t want one, Dan flags the work order in the system, noting that the aircraft is AOG, so everyone knows that component needs a quick turnaround.

A Component’s Arrival

Once the work order has been opened, the Shipping & Receiving department knows who to direct the component to when it arrives. For problems with radar units, for instance, the unit will be delivered to Team Leader Rick Conner, who has been with Duncan Aviation for 22 years, 16 of those working on radar units. Rick will then assign the unit to one of the radar team’s experienced technicians.

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