Bombardier’s CSeries test aircraft lifted off from Montreal’s Mirabel airport today on its sixth test flight, marking the first time the manufacturer has flown CSeries test flights on consecutive days.
The aircraft, a 110-seat CS100 variant known as flight test vehicle one (FTV-1), took off late morning and flew a series of circles roughly 140km (75nm) north of the airport before landing early afternoon, according to PlaneFinder.com.
The aircraft, registration number C-FBCS, had last flown the prior evening of 5 November. It also flew 30 October.
Reached for comment, Bombardier did not say the purpose of the test flight.
Before 30 October, FTV-1 had not flown for 27 days, during which time the aircraft was subjected to a second round of ground vibration testing and software updates for the fly-by-wire flight control system, Bombardier has said.
Those tests followed Bombardier’s announcement in June that the aircraft had completed ground vibration testing.
The aircraft made its maiden flight 16 September.
Bombardier confirmed to Flightglobal on 30 October that the aircraft at that point had flown only with its fly-by-wire system set to “direct” mode, not “normal” mode.
Pilots typically fly in normal mode, which provides flight envelope protections that prevent the aircraft from stalling or performing aggressive maneuvering.
Direct mode provides none of those protections and would only be used by airline pilots in degraded situations.
The company said normal mode would be tested during subsequent flights.
Four CS100 aircraft are in production, and the second will fly “within weeks”, Bombardier has said in recent days.
The first CS300 variant, which can be fitted with 135 to 160 seats, is also in production, according to Bombardier.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
