US business aviation MRO specialist West Star Aviation has formed a strategic partnership with Collins Aerospace in completing a CJ1+ STC for a Pro Line Fusion upgrade including all of the Fusion optional Items. The project was performed, completed and recently delivered at West Star's Grand Junction Regional airport facility in Grand Junction, Colorado. Additionally, the Fusion upgrade and first certification on this Citation model was completed on Astronaut Hall of Fame member Charlie Precourt's aircraft. A veteran astronaut, Precourt was a member of the Columbia, Atlantis and Discovery space shuttle missions.

This partnership now enables Collins Fusion as an upgrade option for CJ1+, 2+ and 3 aircraft. Fusion consists of three widescreen touchscreen high-resolution customisable displays providing Synthetic Vision, Weather, Navigation, Flight Plan and other graphical overlays, delivering greatly enhanced situational awareness in most all flight conditions. This upgrade adds real value to the aircraft with minimal overall downtime.

West Star performed all the aircraft modifications and supported the engineering efforts, while the STC development and flight-testing was completed by Collins Aerospace at West Star's Grand Junction facility.

“We are thrilled to be chosen by both Collins and Mr. Precourt to be involved with the development of the Fusion upgrade and the opportunity to create a higher value to our CJ customers. West Star continues to lead the industry in avionics retrofit programmes, and appointments can be scheduled at any of its four full-service locations,” says Walt Marcy, avionics technical sales manager.