The debut of the Bombardier CSeries at the Paris air show provides the opportunity for the 110-160-seater to be compared with a contemporary twinjet at the lower end of its size scale – the Sukhoi Superjet 100.
The Russian twinjet, which entered service in 2011, typically seats 93 passengers (two class) in a five-abreast layout – the same seating cross-section as the CSeries. The two-model Bombardier family includes the 108-seat CS100 and 130-seat CS300 (two class).
The Superjet fuselage cross-section (above) measures 3.24m (10.6ft), slightly narrower than the 3.7m width of the CSeries (below). While both twinjets feature 18.5in (47cm) wide seats in five-abreast economy layouts, Bombardier rewards middle-seat passengers with an oversized 19in-wide seat. The Superjet on display at Paris is destined for Mexican carrier Interjet and incorporates the optional cabin interior developed by Italian design house Pininfarina.
The two rivals also share flightdeck philosophies, with fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls and sidestick controllers. The Superjet (below) was the first commercial airliner other than an Airbus to feature sidesticks. Its Thales-supplied flightdeck features five large rectangular (upright) identical LCD screens side-by-side across the main panel, with two additional electronic flightbag displays available as an option.
The CSeries cockpit (below) features the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite incorporating four large rectangular (horizontal) LCDs across the main panel (two in front of each pilot), along with a fifth identical central screen on the pedestal. Again additional side-mounted electronic flightbag displays are available as an option.
Despite sharing Airbus's sidestick control philosophy, both the Superjet and CSeries depart from Toulouse thinking in their thrust-lever concept. While in Airbus FBW cockpits thrust levers remain stationary in autothust modes, the levers in both the CSeries and Superjet are back-driven and move with power changes to aid pilot cues in autoflight modes.
The CSeries, which is making its air show debut at Paris, began flight-testing in September 2013, and the initial CS100 version is due to enter service with launch operator Swiss next year.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
