Bombardier is continuing to validate a proposed fix for the engine malfunction that has grounded the CSeries test fleet since 29 May.
Flights for the CS100 should resume in the "coming weeks" as the fix to an unspecified oil system problem is validated, Bombardier CSeries programme manager Rob Dewar says in a video update posted on 12 July.
The fleet has been grounded since the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G "No 1" engine on FTV-1 was damaged on 29 May during ground testing. Bombardier and P&W parent United Technologies have described the problem only as failure of the oil system in the low-pressure turbine.
Bombardier and P&W are now validating modifications designed to fix the problem that caused the failure.
Although the fleet has been grounded for five weeks, Bombardier is sticking to its plan to deliver the first aircraft in the second half of 2015 to launch operator Malmo Aviation.
In the new video, Dewar and chief test pilot Chuck Ellis check off a number of major flight test milestones notched by the CSeries before the grounding.
Ellis says the aircraft has ascended to its maximum altitude, and started to expand the envelope for high-speed and very low speed, including stalls.
Dewars says flight tests so far show that the CSeries is "on track" to meet goals for fuel burn, stall speed, take-off performance, and noise and fuel emissions.
Neither Ellis nor Dewar update the status of the CSeries fly-by-wire system. As of late February, the test fleet had not yet been flown in normal law, and Bombardier has stopped providing updates on the subject. If not in normal law, the test fleet operates in degraded mode called direct law, but flights in normal law are necessary for a large number of certification tests.
The first CS300, scheduled to enter service six months after the CS100, has completed power-on and final assembly, Dewar says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
