NEWS
B
ombardier Aerospace (Montr��al,
Qu��bec, Canada) announced on
Nov. 19 that the ���rst compositesintensive wing shipment for its Learjet
85 business jet had arrived at the
Wichita, Kan., assembly line. Crews
already were involved in the process of
readying the wings for attachment to the
fuselage of the ���rst Flight Test Vehicle
(FTV1). Bombardier also reported that
the fuselage for FTV2 had successfully
completed its integrity inspection.
Installation of the nose, bulkheads, ���oor,
windshield and door surrounds were
scheduled to begin in late November.
When it is complete, the main fuselage
will be shipped with the aft fuselage to
the ���nal assembly line.
source: Bombardier
Business jets, regional jets in the news
Wings for the complete FTV2 static
test article were expected to arrive from
Quer��taro, Mexico, by the end of November as preparations for static ground
testing continued.
���Seeing the wings arrive for our ���rst
Learjet 85 test aircraft is a wonderful moment ��� that could not have happened
without the hard work and dedication of
every single person involved in this project,��� says Ralph Acs, Learjet VP and general manager. ���This development program is gaining ever more momentum as
we tirelessly work towards ���rst ���ight and
the ���rst customer delivery.���
The Learjet 85 is designed to ���y 3,000
nm/5,556 km at speeds of up to 470 kts
(871 kmh). In practice, that means it can
���y direct from Montr��al to Caracas, Venezuela, or from Montr��al to Los Angeles, Calif.
Bombardier announced on Nov. 7
in an investor call that its larger CSeries
commercial aircraft program is making
progress, with the build for both the
Complete Airframe Static Test (CAST)
and the ���rst ���ight-test aircraft moving
forward, says president and CEO Pierre
Beaudoin. A number of key milestones
had already been met, but Bombardier
also had encountered supply-chain delays which resulted in a delay. First ���ight,
therefore, was rescheduled for the end
of June 2013. Entry into service of the
CS100 aircraft is now expected to occur
approximately one year after ���rst ���ight.
According to published sources, including Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine (Nov. 19, 2012, by Jens Flottau and
Bradley Perrett), the delay is due to issues at Bombardier���s Chinese partner
Shenyang Aircraft, part of AVIC Aviation
Technologies (Shenyang, China). Work is
reportedly being pulled back from China
to other Bombardier facilities, including
the one in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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high-performance composites