Under perfect weather conditions, Bombardier Aerospace celebrated the successful first flight of its CSeries aircraft today, a major milestone in the company’s highly anticipated development program that will provide operators with an all-new family of aircraft specifically designed for the 100- to 149-seat market segment. The maiden flight marks the start of the CSeries aircraft’s flight test program leading up to the first customer delivery, and was also the first flight for Pratt & Whitney’s new Geared Turbofan™ PurePower engine as part of an aircraft certification program.

The historic flight of CSeries flight test vehicle one (FTV1) – a CS100 jetliner bearing Canadian registration markings C-FBCS – was conducted under the command of Captain Charles (Chuck) Ellis, Chief Flight Test Pilot, Bombardier Flight Test Center. Capt. Ellis was assisted by his colleagues, Capt. Andris (Andy) Litavniks and Andreas Hartono in the roles of First Officer and Flight Test Engineer, respectively. The flight departed from Montréal–Mirabel International Airport at approximately 9:55 EDT and returned at approximately 12:25 EDT.

Congratulations Bombardier!

C-FBCS is now in our database - has anyone seen it yet?

Any thoughts on how well this new aircraft will sell? Is it too close in size to Airbus/Boeing products?

Here is what I saw on at YMX and the nearby Bell Textron site on July 16, 2013:

C-BCHD YMX 2013-07-16
C-FBCS YMX 2013-07-16 50001 CS100#
C-FCTA YMX 2013-07-16
C-FRJX YMX 2013-07-16 CRJ1000
C-FSAF YMX 2013-07-16
C-GEBS YMX 2013-07-16
C-GFNQ YMX 2013-07-16 54432
C-GHZZ YMX 2013-07-16 15293 CRJ900 DLx C-GVTP YMX 2013-07-16
C-GWUU YMX 2013-07-16
C-GZQJ YMX 2013-07-16 15292 DLx C-GZQK YMX 2013-07-16 19036 CRJ1000 Garuda Indonesia C-GZQM YMX 2013-07-16 15283 CRJ900 Iraqi Airways C-GZQR YMX 2013-07-16 15284 CRJ900 Iraqi Airways

Stephen

Here is what I saw on at YMX and the nearby Bell Textron site on July 16, 2013:

Nice one Stephen! Did you see it making it's first flight?

Unfortunately, only watched it online. I was hoping that it would have taken its 1st flight when I was in Montreal the last week of July. But no.

Stephen