NTSB issues report of Southwest Airlines fuselage tear incident; and other stuff

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its report of the 2011 in-flight fuselage rip in a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300. The flight made an emergency descent and landing at Yuma (AZ). In other stuff: CSeries Report: Bloomberg News… Read More

LionAir says CSeries order coming: Montreal Gazette

The Montreal Gazette reports that LionAir of Indonesia expects to place an order for the Bombardier CSeries next year. Bloomberg has some additional detail. LionAir already has hundreds of orders outstanding from Airbus and Boeing and is essentially… Read More

Busy decade ahead for new, derivative airplane EIS dates

The next decade will see an extraordinary number of new and derivative airplanes entering service, beginning next year with the Boeing 787-9 and ending in 2022 with what we believe will be a replacement for the Airbus A330…. Read More

Odds and Ends: Airbus 20 year forecast; Boeing in WA State; water bombing a fire; Rolls-Royce’ Classic Airliners

Airbus forecast: Airbus announced its 20 year forecast update today in London (Boeing’s update came in advance of the Paris Air Show in July). Here are links to the update: Reuters, via Fox News The Star of Malaysia… Read More

Odds and Ends: Next phase for CSeries; the C-17

Next phase for CSeries: Canada’s Financial Post has a report on how the Bombardier CSeries, powered by the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engine, is “ushering” in a new era of quiet flight. As we noted in… Read More

CSeries first flight follow up

Several news items following the first flight of Bombardier’s CSeries: Aviation Week recalculates the CSeries order performance compared with other new airplane programs (not derivatives) and it stacks up pretty nicely. The Montreal Gazette has an interactive graphic… Read More

CSeries takes to air for the first time; PW also conducting own tests with new GTF engine

Update: First flight touchdown at 12:24 EDT, 2 1/2 hours. Original Post: Bombardier’s multi-billion dollar gamble to leap from regional airliner manufacturer into the mainline arena took off this morning at about 9:54 AM EDT. The CSeries CS100… Read More

CSeries first flight this morning 0930 EDT

It’s 0-dark-30 here on the West Coast, waiting for the Bombardier CSeries first flight in 45 minutes. You can watch on the Bombardier webcast here, where it will go live just before, according to Tweets. You can follow… Read More

BBD’s conservative approach toward first flight

BBD v Boeing on First Flight: We, along with others, have wondered why Bombardier wants a clear, sunny day for first flight when Boeing flew the 787 on a rainy day in December. Was this some regulatory difference… Read More

Weather outlook bleak through Wednesday for CSeries first flight

Bombardier has finished taxi testing today following an increase in the winds. The weather forecast for Montreal calls for rain beginning tonight through Wednesday, with a sunny day forecast for Thursday. BBD says it needs VFR weather for… Read More