Bombardier is keeping the CSeries on track to fly by the end of the month by clearing the engine power-on step on 18 July.
The initial runs on the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G geared turbofans come two days after Bombardier activated the Honeywell 131-9 auxiliary power unit.
"Next step, we will check the aircraft's systems with the engines powered while progressively increasing thrust," says Rob Dewar, Bombardier's vice-president and general manager for the CSeries programme.
After completing ground vibration tests last month, the APU and engine runs move the CSeries flight test vehicle (FTV)-1 within weeks of first flight on normal aircraft development schedules.
Airbus, for instance, powered-up the engines for the A350-900 15 days before the aircraft flew last month for the first time. The Boeing 787-8 also powered on the engine 13 days before first flight on 15 December 2009, although the engine had previously run once before in May before schedule delays intervened.
The CSeries programme is currently running about seven months behind schedule. Bombardier initially delayed first flight from late December to late June, and three weeks ago moved the event back one more month to end of July.
If Bombardier follows routine industry pre-flight schedules, the CSeries within a week will enter systems gauntlet testing, which will test the aircraft's systems on the ground in a manner that simulates a complete flight.
A few days to a week later, the CSeries might begin a series of low-speed and high-speed taxi tests, including some runs when the nose gear is briefly lifted off the ground. Bombardier also much check-off a rejected take-off test.
Meanwhile, Transport Canada still must approve an experimental certificate for the CSeries to begin flight tests. Bombardier submitted its application for the agency's approval in mid-June.
The CSeries introduces a number of 'firsts' in the single-aisle segment, including geared turbofan engines, an all-composite wing and an aluminium-lithium panel fuselage. The CSeries is also the first Bombardier aircraft designed with a tri-axis fly-by-wire flight control system.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
