Bombardier Challenger 600 Series - Wikipedia

Origins

Around 1974, American aviation inventor Bill Lear conceptualised the LearStar 600, a low-wing, long-distance business jet, which was powered by a pair of Garrett TFE731-1 geared turbofan engines and equipped with a supercritical wing.[2][3] Lear lacked the capabilities to launch such an aircraft, thus sought out other agencies to collaborate with to both produce and sell it, including the Canadian aerospace manufacturer Canadair. According to authors Ron Picklet and Larry Milberry, Canadair's top management were of the opinion that Lear's concept was sketchy at best.[4] Lear did not have an expert grasp of aeronautical engineering; so far, he had only been able to pay an American aeronautical consultant to undertake very preliminary design explorations.[5]

Following a study, contrasting the proposed Learstar against rivals such as the Lockheed Jetstar, Dassault Falcon 50, and Grumman Gulfstream II, Canadair decided to give its backing to the idea near the end of 1975.[2][3] According to aerospace industry publication Flight International, the programme was viewed by many Canadians as a step towards developing a privately driven high-technology aviation industry that would compete at a global level.[3] Perhaps more importantly, the Canadian government had issued a demand that Canadair become self-sufficient, thus the company wanted to depend less upon subcontracting arrangements with other firms, such as France's Dassault Aviation and America's Boeing, or providing support packages for existing aircraft for which they had already ended production, such as the CF-5 fighter. Canadair felt a need to prove its ability to independently develop original high-tech projects at this time.[3]

Canadair planned to use Lear's name and skills at self-promotion to secure extensive financial guarantees for a business-jet project from the Canadian federal government.[4] This proved an effective choice: Future Prime Minister Jean Chrétien specifically refers to the effect of personal contact with Lear on his decision to direct financial support to Canadair's program.[6] At the time of these events, Chrétien was successively president of the Treasury Board, minister of Industry, Trade, and Commerce, and minister of Finance, in the Canadian government. Due to the use of letters of comfort, the extent of the ministry's financial commitments for Canadair could be kept from parliament and the public for several years.[7] These financial guarantees were later used as an academic example of insufficient monitoring and lax controls in government support of industry.[8]

In April 1976, Canadair acquired the LearStar 600 concept. By then it was 63 ft (19 m) long, and 53.3 ft (16.2 m) wide, and capable of a maximum speed of Mach 0.85 and a range of 7,240 km (3,910 nmi). As an executive jet, it had sufficient capacity for 14 passengers. In a freighter configuration, it had a 3,400 kg (7,500 lb) payload capacity, loaded and unloaded through a forward door. As a commuter airliner, it could seat up to 30 passengers in a 2–1 seating configuration.[2] Canadair developed the design into a large airframe, furnished with a new supercritical wing design, new avionics and engines, as well as for compliance with new FAR part 25 standards. The configuration was frozen in August and a 1/25 model was tested in the National Aeronautical Establishment transonic wind tunnel.[2] Reportedly, in excess of 1,800 hours of wind tunnel testing were performed upon the supercritical wing alone.[3]

Launch

Backed by the federal government, the programme was launched on 29 October 1976 with firm orders and deposits for 53 aircraft.[2] Within the next two years, roughly 2,500 employees were involved in designing the aircraft.[3] Changes to the original Learstar configuration had been made on the run up to the launch, such as the conventional tailplane being substituted for a T-tail counterpart after the former was found to be in the path of the engine's exhaust flow, the relocation of fuel storage to the wings, and multiple increases of the aircraft's gross weight.[2][3] Following disagreements over the direction of the programme, Bill Lear was phased out of involvement. In March 1977, the aircraft was renamed the Challenger 600.[2] Reportedly, following his disassociation with the venture, Lear referred to Canadair's revised design as Fat Albert.[3] Following Lear's death in May 1978, Canadair paid an estimated $25 million to his estate for his contribution to the programme.[3]

Due to the expansion of the design, the original powerplant configuration became untenable. Engine manufacturer Lycoming proposed developing a new model, the Lycoming ALF 502L, which Canadair's design team accepted for the enlarged Challenger, and around which drew up its general arrangement.[3] The type's wide cargo door had been designed in response to the needs of FedEx, the type's original launch customer, having placed an order for 25 aircraft.[2] FedEx had experienced problems with the General Electric CF34 engines, and favoured the Lycoming ALF 502D, instead. Those later had delivery troubles and lacked performance.[2] Reportedly, FedEx converted most of its orders into the Challenger's stretched version, intending to carry up to 12,500 lb of freight.[3] FedEx ultimately opted to cancel its orders due to the US Airline Deregulation Act, and the specific aircraft that were already in production were sold to other customers instead.[2]

By the spring of 1977, Canadair had received over 70 firm orders and had begun constructing three prototypes.[2] A $70 million loan was borrowed from European sources to help finance the program, which lessened the financial burden on the Canadian government.[3] A full-scale fuselage mockup was displayed at the 1977 Paris Air Show before a European and North American tour. 106 were sold by the end of 1977.[2] In late 1977, in the face of criticism that the project would not fulfil the performance guarantees made, Canadair stated that the first flight was to occur in 1978, and that initial deliveries were scheduled for September 1979. Flight International noted that even prior to the prototype's first flight, the type had already made a noticeable impact upon the competition, including the launch of the Cessna Citation III and Grumman Gulfstream III.[3]

By early March 1978, the first prototype was almost finished and the assembly of the two other had debuted.[2] Destined to control handling qualities and test flight performance, it was formally rolled out on 25 May 1978. 116 orders were confirmed 19 months after go-ahead.[2] By this point, production jigs allowing for a production rate of up to seven Challengers per month had been established, ready for quantity production to proceed.[3] Airframe structural testing began in February 1979. Operational test cycling started in December 1979, simulating 72,638 flight hours by February 1985, while its predicted lifetime was 30,000 hours.[2]

Flight test phase

On 8 November 1978, the prototype aircraft took off for its maiden flight from Montreal, Quebec. The flight test and certification program were conducted at Mojave Kern County Airport instead of Canada due to better weather.[2] The second and third prototypes first flew during 1979. A test flight on 3 April 1980 in the Mojave Desert resulted in disaster. The aircraft crashed due to the failure of the release mechanism to detach the recovery chute after a deep stall, killing one of the test pilots. The other test pilot and the flight test engineer parachuted to safety.[9]

The CL-600-1A11 type certification was approved by Transport Canada in August 1980,[10] and by the US Federal Aviation Administration in November 1980.[11]

The program cost was C$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion at the time).[12]

Further development

In 1980, the first production model of the Challenger series, the CL-600, entered service with end customers.[13] Early marketing of the type by Canadair typically contrasted the more spacious cabin offered by the Challenger against its competitors, which typically had more narrow fuselages, and therefore cramped conditions, as well as the type's fuel economy. By 1982, while only 10 aircraft had entered service, the company had begun publicising a new model of the aircraft, the CL-601, which was to be powered by a pair of General Electric CF34 turbofan engines in place of the original models’ Lycoming units. On 10 April 1982, the CL-601 performed its maiden flight.[14] According to Flight International, the decision to adopt the CF34 engine for the new model was responsible for generating a substantial boom in Challenger sales.[15]

According to Flight International, the slow initial sales of the Challenger heavily contributed to the near-bankruptcy of Canadair, which was only avoided by the purchase of the company by Bombardier in 1986.[13] Bombardier elected not only to continue production of the type, but also to finance the development of new models and derivatives. This choice was aided by Canadair's design decision to enable the Challenger to be readily stretched from the onset.[3] As of October 2018, the best-selling variant of the Challenger series has been the CL-604, which was launched in 1995. The 500th aircraft was rolled out in May 2000.[15][16] The 1000th, a 650, was delivered to NetJets in December 2015.[17]

According to Flight International, the Challenger 600 has been a foothold in the market for Bombardier, allowing them to more easily develop further business jets, such as the Bombardier Global Express. Another direct derivative of the Challenger series has been the Bombardier CRJ100 series, a larger regional airliner. The publication commented that the Challenger family "appears to have a solid future", observing a production rate of two aircraft per month throughout 2018.[13]