Bombardier nearly ready to flight test CSeries

Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower Geared Turbofan™ engine has achieved type certification from Transport Canada. The PW1500G engine will power Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft. Pratt & Whitney has conducted over 4,000 hours of testing on the engine since September 2010. The PW1500G engine test program included 340 hours of flight testing on P&W’s experimental 747 Flight Test airplane.

The PW1500G engines are assembled at Pratt & Whitney Canada’s Mirabel Aerospace Centre in Mirabel, Quebec. UTC Aerospace Systems, formed after UTC’s acquisition of Goodrich, provides the nacelle system.

“We have successfully demonstrated the durability and game-changing performance of our Geared Turbofan engine architecture,” said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family, Pratt & Whitney. Besides demonstrating the service readiness of the Fan Drive Gear System, Saia said, the testing process also allowed Pratt & Whitney to validate an improvement in fuel efficiency and noise reduction that was targeted in 2007 when the PurePower PW1500G program was launched.

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Bombardier says its CSeries jets will offer a 15 per cent operating cost advantage and a 20 per cent fuel burn advantage. The Pratt & Whitney PW1500G engine received type certification from Transport Canada.

The man in charge of the CSeries, vice president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft Rob Dewar, called certification of the PW1500G engine a “significant milestone and a critical step” in the flight test program. The company is now completing final assembly of the first CSeries flight test aircraft, he said.

Each CSeries aircraft, designed for the 100- to 149-seat market, is powered by two PurePower PW1500G series engines. The engine’s gear system allows the engine’s fan to operate at a different speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine. The gear system together with an all-new advanced core deliver double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency, environmental emissions and noise.

Bombardier says that the CSeries aircraft will offer a 15 per cent cash operating cost advantage and a 20 per cent fuel burn advantage.

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