West Star Aviation is acquired by The Sterling Group, an operationally-focused middle-market private equity firm, from the previous investor, Norwest Equity Partners (NEP), a middle-market investment firm.

Jenny Showalter, 25-year business-aviation veteran and workforce specialist, announces the opening of Showalter Business Aviation Career Coaching. Focused on assisting the individual professional, Showalter's exclusive coaching and advisory services are now available to the business-aviation community.

StandardAero signs a volume purchase agreement with Gogo for delivery of AVANCE L3 and L5 systems in March, opening up more availability for operators seeking installations. The company now offers Gogo AVANCE L3 and L5 installation slots for Dassault Falcon, Bombardier, Hawker, Gulfstream, Embraer and Citation business-jet operators from the U.S. and Canada. Upgrades are managed at StandardAero’s Centers of Excellence in Houston, TX; Springfield, IL; and Augusta, GA.

West Star Aviation announces the promotion of Jeff Yeager to Landing Gear senior team lead at its Grand Junction, CO (GJT), facility. Additionally, Darin Perryman has been hired as the Accessories and Landing Gear program manager, also at GJT.

Duncan Aviation announces a new four-part video series in which regional avionics sales representative Michael Kussatz walks viewers through the complete process of installing the Garmin G5000 flight deck into a Citation Excel/XLS. The video series is intended to give viewers a first-hand look into everything technicians have to do to successfully install the new flight deck, providing more information as to why 10% of the Citation Excel/XLS fleet has already upgraded to the G5000 avionics suite.

Canada-based aircraft parts distributor KADEX Aero Supply chooses PWI in Wichita, KS, to be a worldwide in-stock distributor for its KADEX LED Wing Tip Light Assembly. The assembly is STC-approved and designed for the Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft.

In order to keep pace with customer demand, West Star Aviation announces plans for major facility expansion at its Grand Junction, CO (GJT), location. Plans include a new 40,000-square-foot hangar with an additional 35,000 square feet of shop and office space. The shop space will include a larger interior shop, a complete composite shop, and tool room.

West Star announces the promotion of Leonard Lentz as aviation technical trainer at its Grand Junction, CO (GJT), location. In his new role, Lentz will develop a training culture for technicians that promotes professional growth and success. The program will focus on initiatives related to technical training, development, mentoring and career advancement, along with continuing some NDT duties for training and certification.

Constant Aviation announces that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recognized it as having a single, corporate-wide safety management system (SMS), making it only the second maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) so designated. Achieving FAA-accepted Corporate SMS status means that Constant is operating under a single safety system company-wide, which generally reduces safety risk and ranks it as a leader in business-aviation maintenance safety.

A team of avionics sales professionals at Duncan Aviation updates the information in its book, Straight Talk About CMS. The book introduces readers to CMS, or cabin management systems, which control all of the other powered devices in a cabin, such as lighting, shades, audio/visual sources and climate equipment.