CSERIES

First Flight

The first flight of Bombardier’s CSeries on September 16 was a pivotal milestone for an aircraft that has dared to be new against competition that has opted for derivatives, albeit very good derivatives. While there is a raft of all-new regional jets, the market Bombardier is targeting – the bottom end of the 737 and A320 market – is rich with derivatives certainly in the case of the 737. To sell an all-new design into a massively entrenched market is a tough ask, particularly when your competition is Boeing and Airbus and the big two are promising similar fuel savings from essentially proven designs. In fact several potential CSeriescustomers have alluded to ‘seeing is believing’ before signing up, particularly as Bombardier is reportedly not discounting the aircraft. And now arch-rival Embraer has entered the fray with a major makeover – the E2 – of its popular E-Jets. But all those worries were set aside in September when ship one, or FTV1 as Bombardier calls it, took to the air in perfect weather conditions. The flight of the 100-149 seat CSeries – a CS100 bearing the registration marking C-FBCS – was conducted under the command of Captain Charles Ellis, Chief Flight Test Pilot of the Bombardier Flight Test Center. Ellis was assisted by Captain Andris Litavniks and Andreas Hartono in the roles of First Officer and Flight Test

They’ve got to build the customer base. Even if it means sacrificing pricing. steven udvar-hazy

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