Bombardier says it is on schedule to certificate the Global Vision cockpit upgrade for the Global 5000 and Global Express XRS ultra-long-range business jets by June 2010, with the first customer "green" aircraft completed by February 2011.
The assessment comes after a successful series of initial flights of the new flightdeck on a new Global XRS in early August, first from Bombardier's flight facility Toronto and later from its Wichita location where testing will continue through US Federal Aviation Administration, Transport Canada and European Aviation Safety Agency certification. Global Vision is based on Rockwell Collins' Pro Line Fusion integrated flightdeck system.
Gary Bruce, Bombardier's senior engineering test pilot in Wichita, says the early "first flight profile" tests with Global Vision flight software version 1.1 included operations up to 47,000ft (14,325m) and maximum operating speed, pressurisation and engine performance as well as instrument approaches.
The initial two flights from Toronto were each of around 5h, with basic avionics functions operational, excluding the synthetic vision system (SVS). Bruce says the Rockwell Collins-built flight management system, which is operating with partial functionality, will be complete with the next software load, expected by mid-October.
The flightdeck's hardware suite, which includes four 15in (38cm) LCD displays and a cursor control device, is complete except for the Rockwell Collins HGS-6000 head-up guidance system and the Bombardier enhanced vision system (BEVS), which Bruce says will be installed in the autumn.
He adds that Bombardier may decide to install the HGS and BEVS, which uses a CMC-built short- and mid-wave cooled forward-looking infrared camera, in the Global 5000 prototype to expedite testing. Rockwell Collins ultimately expects to offer a fused SVS and EVS image that will combine the best features of both technologies in the same view either on the HGS or on a display.
Bombardier plans to install Global Vision in a fully outfitted new Global 5000 in February to test links to the cabin systems, including the environmental control system, in part for certification purposes.
SVS capability, which was previously tested on a Challenger 300, will be installed with a future software load. "That's the icing on the cake more toward the end of the programme," says Bruce.
Source: Flight International
