Bombardier's Global Express test aircraft visited Roswell Industrial Air Center (RIAC) in Roswell, New Mexico late last month for field trials of a new brake software configuration.
The modification is designed to improve the aircraft's runway performance enough to warrant a gross weight increase, and Bombardier plans to incorporate the enhancement into the next generation Global XRS, which will replace the standard Global Express in production.
According to the Bombardier Wichita flight-test team, existing Global operators will have the option to perform the upgrade during their normal maintenance cycle.
The demonstrator also sported the Thales/CMC Electronics enhanced flight vision system (EFVS) earmarked for future Global-family production. Its infrared camera system is mounted atop the aircraft's nose radome. Bombardier says its approach is designed to reduce the parallax view errors that pilots have allegedly experienced using chin-mounted EFVS equipment.
RIAC is a popular location with manufacturers for flight and ground testing due to its clear weather, low-density air traffic and ungrooved, 13,000ft (3,965m) runway.
* Macedonia has selected the Bombardier Learjet 60 for its VIP transport requirement. According to local media reports, the mid-size business jet was selected over the Cessna Citation XLS and Raytheon Hawker 800XP as Bombardier could meet the government's demands on performance, year-end delivery schedule and price. The Macedonian government says: "The offer we got from Bombardier was the best under all criteria established for this tender. We got discount of 16.1% [off the $12 million list price] and training is also included in the price."
Source: Flight International
