A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

West Star Aviation is celebrating at NBAA 2018 the official opening last month of the MRO’s fourth full-service facility, at Perryville Regional Airport (PCD) in Perryville, Missouri. Occupying the former Sabreliner Aviation facilities, the site includes four hangars comprising more than 120,000 sq&nbsp;ft&nbsp;of hangar and shop space, including a 28,800-sq-ft&nbsp;paint facility built in 2011 with a downdraft filtration system.

 


“We’ve been working our tails off trying to get everything ready,” Kyle French, general manager of West Star PCD, said on the eve of the September 19&nbsp;event.

 


Prep work for reoccupation began in February. “It took a good solid five weeks to get things cleaned out from what was left behind,” said French. “The place sat empty for a year and a&nbsp;half.”

 


Nonetheless, the facility was able to induct its first aircraft in the second week of March and had “been continuously improving since then,” said French.

 


The opening drew a close-knit crowd of community representatives, company leaders, employees,&nbsp;and their families.

 


“This is a big deal for West Star,” CEO Jim Rankin&nbsp;said in welcoming guests. “We really do feel confident that we’re going to be able to continue to grow and get the types of employees that make West Star what it is today.”

 


Missouri state representative Rick Francis (R), a Perryville native, gave West Star (Booth 2656; 2219)&nbsp;a warm welcome in return and issued a call for more vocational education in the state. “We need to encourage and make available technical skills education&nbsp;and provide a better path for some of our kids,” Francis said, citing the need for technicians in fields including robotics, welding, and diesel technology.&nbsp;“We don’t need everyone going to a four-year university.”

 


Roger Renaud, West Star president and COO, noted that he began his aviation career at the Perryville Sabreliner facility. “I never imagined any scenario that brought me all the way around to here, but I’m very, very happy,” he said. “Now we have the opportunity to build something back we can all be proud of again, and provide good paying jobs to the community.”

 


The hangar bays, covered in years of grime during the latter Sabreliner days, are now a crisp white from floor to ceiling&nbsp;and brightly lit.

 


PCD, with 28 employees now, currently operates as a workaway facility under the West Alton’s repair station approval&nbsp;and is in the process of acquiring its own certificate and hiring additional personnel.

 


“At one point Sabreliner had 400 people, so we’re able to do some pretty extensive background checks and get to who we want,” French said.&nbsp;

 


West Star has FAA maintenance authorizations for all major turbine and turboprop OEMs' products. Four GIVs, in for heavy maintenance, were in one hangar. A Falcon 2000 is inbound for stripping and painting and avionics, and two Gogo Avance L5 installations have been completed.

 


For customers overseeing projects on site, the facility offers private offices with printers, Wi-Fi and “everything you could want,” French said. Perryville boasts good hotels and restaurants and points of interest, and St. Louis is less than an hour away.

 


The opening represents a homecoming for French, also a Perryville native, who worked the airport in high school&nbsp;and has been at West Star’s headquarters facility in East Alton, Illinois, for the past five years.

 


“It’s just great to be able to come down here and provide jobs for the economy in town,” French said.

 


In addition to its East Alton location, West Star has major MRO facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Grand Junction, Colorado; and provides FBO services in East Alton and Grand Junction. The company also operates five satellite maintenance operations.

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