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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2839.PDF
BUSINESS & GENERAL AVIATION CERTIFICATION GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC Challenger 300 delayed to allow design changes Bombardier to flight-test avionics options and interior and test completion cycle Bombardier has modified the Challenger 300 programme, delay ing certification and slowing initial production in an effort to avoid the entry-into-service problems that afflicted the Global Express business jet, as well as the CRJ700 and Dash 8 Q400 regional aircraft. The delay will allow design changes resulting from tests to be incorporated before first customer deliveries. Originally expected this month, certification of the former Contin ental super mid-size business jet is now scheduled for the first quarter of next year. First deliveries of com pleted aircraft are still planned for mid-2003. The delay will give the Canadian manufacturer time to flight-test the avionics options and interior, and test the completion cycle, "so that we have a mature product", says Challenger 300 programme direc tor Tom Hilpert. "We want to cer tificate the configuration that we want to enter service." Four aircraft, one with a proto type interior, have accumulated l,100h of flight testing. A fifth air craft, serial number 20005, is essen tially complete, but is being held on the ground in "update mode" while systems designs are finalised and redesigned parts installed. It is expected to fly in November in a production-representative configu ration. This aircraft will be used for function and reliability (F&R) testing leading to certification. "We have frozen the aerody namics, and all primary and sec ondary structure, and are progres sively freezing the systems," says Challenger 300 certification is now scheduled for the first quarter next year Hilpert. "We will keep the aircraft on the ground until the last moment and freeze as many sys tems as possible before we launch F&R." After certification, 20005 will be used by Bombardier's Flexjet fractional-ownership programme for "operational F&R" tests ahead of first deliveries. Confident that the configura tion of aircraft 20001 meets aerody namic and performance targets, Hilpert says testing has begun in Roswell, New Mexico, to gather performance data for the flight manual and flight management system. Installing a prototype inte rior in aircraft 20004 has allowed Bombardier's Tucson, Arizona, completion centre to measure the outfitting cycle. The five test aircraft will be fol lowed by a low-rate initial produc tion batch of six Challenger 300s, to be used to validate the produc tion line flow. The first two of these, 20006 and 20007, have been slowed to allow late design changes to be incorpo rated during production. But the last two, 20010 and 20011, will be built at the peak rate of 60 aircraft a year, Hilpert says. US approval is expected 30 days after Transport Canada certifica tion, and European recommenda tion is due 30 days after that. COMPLETIONS LHT doubles widebody capacity Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is to double the VIP widebody com pletion facilities at its Hamburg plant, temporarily replacing some narrowbody conversion capacity. Joachim von Holtzapfel, sales director of LHT's newly- created completions business unit, says global demand for widebody conversions reached four last year, and he predicted this could double by 2005. LHT expects to complete two a year from 2003, compared to one a year now. A simultaneous decline in LHT's narrowbody order book has allowed two of its four com pletion lines to be dedicated to governmental twin-aisle conver sions. "We are reshaping our hangar to accommodate two narrowbody lines and two wide- bodies, but there is sufficient space to bring back a third nar rowbody line if the market recovers," says von Holtzapfel. He expects growth in the widebody conversion market to continue for the next five to six years, mainly because of ageing Boeing 747s in the Gulf region coming up for replacement. LHT has completed its seventh 747 conversion, and is expecting to complete the first VIP Airbus A380 by the end of the decade. The company says it is eager to have a "footprint" in the USA, and is "exploring sev eral options". KITPLANE Maverick Jets clocks up twentieth MC-750 sale Maverick Jets has sold its twentieth MC-750 custom-build personal jet but says that it has no plans for a fully-certificated model. At the National Business Avia tion Association's convention in Orlando, Florida, earlier this month, which saw large orders of new personal jets from Cessna and Eclipse, the company secured "sev eral" $45,000 deposits for the light weight twin jet kitplane. The five-seater is certificated as an experimental amateur-built air craft, under which the buyer is responsible for 51% of the com pleted build, but is permitted "professional assistance". The gross weight of the all- composite Maverick Jet is 2,360kg (5,2001b), and it can be flown by general aviation pilots without a type rating once they have acquired a letter of authorisation from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Full certification, which would require cabin pres- surisation and de-icing, would "quadruple the price" and is not being pursued, the company says. The $750,000 Maverick Jet was designed with the low-time general aviation pilot in mind, with its two General Electric T58-based 7501b- thrust (3.5kN) MC-750 engines restricting the aircraft to low air speeds, says the Florida-based com pany. The range is 2,960km (l,600nm) and the aircraft is designed to cruise at 31,000ft (9,450m) at up to 300kt (555km/h). The aircraft has accrued more than 300h of flying over three years, and the company moved into full production of five aircraft a month in July. Maverick Jets is finalising dealership agreements in 22 countries. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24-30 SEPTEMBER 2002 27
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