US MRO specialist West Star Aviation has completed the first installation of both the Collins Pro Line Fusion system and Collins Venue CMS system in a Challenger 604 aircraft at its Grand Junction Regional airport facility in Colorado.

The avionics specialists at West Star are experienced with in-depth cockpit and cabin upgrades over several generations of Collins equipment in various airframes. The company recently partnered with Collins on the successful installation of the Fusion system for first of type STC on the Citation CJ1+.

“The combination of Pro Line Fusion and the Collins Venue CMS retrofit on a Challenger 604 represented a unique first for not only West Star, but the industry as well,” says Grand Junction avionics technical sales manager Walt Marcy.

The Fusion system offers several benefits to the proven and still robust Challenger airframe. It removes obsolescence issues with Pro Line IV cockpit components and brings aircraft back into full compliance with all international standards. It adds full synthetic vision to the aircraft with multiple overlay options and enhances safety through increased awareness with heads-up flying. And finally it adds full dual graphical flight planning with data link integration and domestic data link capabilities.

This specific operator selected enhanced options with their installation, including FANS/CPDLC, ANT B1/Link 2000+, MultiScan weather, SXM weather and an auto throttle upgrade as well as a full Collins Venue CMS/IFE retrofit.

While in for the cockpit and cabin avionic installations, the aircraft also underwent a full cabin refurbishment, including all soft goods and all new carbon fibre woodwork as well as a 96-month inspection.