Bombardier is pitching its CSeries airliner's suitability for the hot-and-high conditions found in parts of Latin America.
"The hot-and-high performance of the CS100 is outstanding," says CSeries programme vice-president Robert Dewar. "It is extremely well suited for operating in South America."
He adds that the "rate of flight testing now is meeting expectations" following a failure of a Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine earlier this year.
Although the fire grounded the test fleet from 29 May to 7 September, Bombardier is sticking to its projection that the aircraft will enter revenue service in the second half of 2015.
"We got the engine issue resolved and we are very satisfied with the solution," says Dewar.
Two days ago, Bombardier performed an "ultimate wing test" of the aircraft's carbonfibre wing. During that test, the wingtip was displaced 10ft (3m). Next, the Canadian airframer will perform an "ultimate failure test" on the wing.
Bombardier is in the second phase of flight testing, during which the manufacturer evaluates minimum control speeds and various aircraft systems, and performs cold-weather and smoke-penetration tests, says Dewar.
The third and last phase, which will lead to certification, includes evacuation tests scheduled for later this year, icing tests, and final performance tests.
"I am smiling. I have seen most of the results so far and I am very encouraged," says Dewar.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
