Bombardier has suspended flight tests of CSeries aircraft following an engine related incident on Friday.
Bombardier has suspended flight tests of CSeries aircraft following an engine related incident on Friday.
The unspecified engine problem occured during stationary ground maintenance tests on CS100 FTV1 prototype aircraft, involving its Pratt & Whitney PW 1500G geared turbofan engine at its facility in Mirabel, Québec.
Suspension of flight tests indicate a serious problem like an uncontained turbine or gear failure.
Confirming the incident, Bombardier said it is investigating the incident with the support of Pratt & Whitney and flight test will resume only after the investigation is completed.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has deployed an investigator to the scene.
P&W PurePower engine family employs an advanced planetary gear system allowing the engine's fan to operate at a different speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine. The engine has the highest ever by-pass ratio of 12:1.
The reliability of the planetary gearbox design is a contested issue due to its mechanical complexity.
Prior to PW1500G certification in 2013, Pratt & Whitney has conducted over 4,000 hours of rigorous engine testing since maiden engine run in September 2010.
The PW1500G engine test program also included 340 hours of flight testing on the experimental Boeing 747 flight test airplane.
The incident is a setback for Bombardier as the CSeries program is already behind schedule amid rising development costs.
The flight test is so sluggish, that the CSeries test fleet had just logged about 300 hrs of the planned 2400 flight test hrs.
In comparison, Airbus A350 which even though debuted three month earlier than CSeries, had logged more than 1700 flight test hours.
Following the delay, Bombardier rescheduled CSeries commercial debut to second half of 2015.
