West Star Aviation (CHA) recently performed its first installation of a Collins Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system and a Cabin Management Solutions Evolve CMS system in a Challenger 604. The events marked the first time these systems were installed in a CL604 at this location.

The Challenger 604 was due for a 48-month airframe inspection, and the customer opted to have the avionics and cabin management system upgraded at the same time.

The combination of these two upgrades ensures the proven and trusted 604 airframe will be flying well into the future.

The Pro Line Fusion brings the highly popular Challenger 604 platform into the next generation of technology and future-ready with this new flight deck. After 2024, the existing flight displays of the Pro Line 4 cockpit will no longer be supported. Collins will stop accepting the EFD-4077 units for repair. Those displays will be removed and replaced with high-resolution LCD flight displays with touchscreen capability. Installation opens the door to next-gen technology like Synthetic Vision, Data Link capability, integrated maps and charts, RNP approaches, FANS & LINK 2000+, MultiScan Weather, XM, and worldwide graphical weather. Typical installation for this system is 5 to 6 weeks. All four West Star Aviation full-service facilities are authorized Collins dealers.

The Cabin Management Solutions Evolve CMS delivers a high-resolution digital cabin management system with intuitive touchscreen technology. Each switch panel can be designed to fit in legacy switch panel locations, limiting the amount of woodwork modification required to perform the installation. These new switch panels communicate with the Cabin Management Unit via radio frequency, which limits the amount of wiring involved with its installation. This reduces the cost associated with other CMS systems of its kind. As this aircraft was in for the 48-month inspection, much of the interior was required to be removed, so this was an opportune time to have the Evolve system installed. Installation of this system independently averages approximately 9 weeks.

“The CMS Evolve is an innovative system at the price point we were looking for. One of the biggest considerations with this system is that we did not have to modify our current woodwork,” said Larry Miller, director of maintenance for the aircraft.

When asked why he chose West Star Aviation for the inspection and upgrade work, Miller said “I trust West Star for installations of this magnitude. They had the equipment on hand when others didn’t, showing the commitment and investment West Star makes to ensure they have the equipment ready when their customers need it.”

For more information on this or any other Challenger service, please contact one of the specialists below.