Bombardier Challenger 600
Encyclopedia
The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jet
s designed by Bill Lear
and produced first by Canadair
until that company was bought by Bombardier Aerospace
in 1986.
in 1976, who had resigned as Chairman of Lear Jet
seven years previously. Originally dubbed the LearStar 600, Lear sold exclusive rights to produce and develop the design to Canadair, who renamed it the CL-600 Challenger.
While similar in general configuration to Lear's previous designs, notable changes were made that distinguished the new aircraft from the Learjets, including the use of a widened fuselage that allowed a "walk-about cabin", a feature not shared by any other business aircraft of the time. The Challenger was also one of the first bizjets designed with a supercritical wing
.
On 8 November 1978, the prototype aircraft took off at Montreal
, Canada
. The second and third prototypes flew in 1979. A 3 April 1980 test flight in the Mojave Desert resulted in disaster, the aircraft crashing due to a deep stall, killing one of the test pilots (the other test pilot and the flight test engineer parachute
d to safety).
Despite the crash, both Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration
in the United States certified the aircraft in 1980, albeit with restrictions to pilots including a limited maximum take-off weight. A program to reduce the aircraft's weight was then implemented to improve the aircraft's range.
Challengers can be identified visually by their distinctive fowler flap
design, where the fairings can be seen below the wings, a sight much more common on commercial airliners.
Business jet
Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals...
s designed by Bill Lear
Bill Lear
William Powell Lear was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets...
and produced first by Canadair
Canadair
Canadair Ltd. was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. It was a subsidiary of other aircraft manufacturers, then a nationalized corporation until privatized in 1986, and became the core of Bombardier Aerospace....
until that company was bought by Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
in 1986.
Development
The aircraft was an independent design by Bill LearBill Lear
William Powell Lear was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets...
in 1976, who had resigned as Chairman of Lear Jet
Lear Jet
Learjet is a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation. Learjet is now a subsidiary of Bombardier and marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family".-History:The Learjet started life as an...
seven years previously. Originally dubbed the LearStar 600, Lear sold exclusive rights to produce and develop the design to Canadair, who renamed it the CL-600 Challenger.
While similar in general configuration to Lear's previous designs, notable changes were made that distinguished the new aircraft from the Learjets, including the use of a widened fuselage that allowed a "walk-about cabin", a feature not shared by any other business aircraft of the time. The Challenger was also one of the first bizjets designed with a supercritical wing
Supercritical airfoil
A supercritical airfoil is an airfoil designed, primarily, to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range. Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly cambered aft section, and greater leading edge radius compared with traditional airfoil shapes...
.
On 8 November 1978, the prototype aircraft took off at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The second and third prototypes flew in 1979. A 3 April 1980 test flight in the Mojave Desert resulted in disaster, the aircraft crashing due to a deep stall, killing one of the test pilots (the other test pilot and the flight test engineer parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
d to safety).
Despite the crash, both Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
in the United States certified the aircraft in 1980, albeit with restrictions to pilots including a limited maximum take-off weight. A program to reduce the aircraft's weight was then implemented to improve the aircraft's range.
Challengers can be identified visually by their distinctive fowler flap
Flap (aircraft)
Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
design, where the fairings can be seen below the wings, a sight much more common on commercial airliners.
Variants
CL-600
- CL-600: original production version, powered by Avco LycomingHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
ALF 502LHoneywell ALF 502|-See also:-References:Bibliography-External links:* *...
turbofans of 7,500 lbf (33.6 kN) thrust each. Built until 1983 (83 built)- CL-600S: 76 CL-600s retrofitted with the winglets introduced on the CL-601-1A. 12 aircraft purchased by the Royal Canadian Air ForceRoyal Canadian Air ForceThe history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
, named CC-144, CE-144, and CX-144.
- CL-600S: 76 CL-600s retrofitted with the winglets introduced on the CL-601-1A. 12 aircraft purchased by the Royal Canadian Air Force
CL-601
- CL-601-1A: refined version including winglets to reduce drag and more powerful General Electric CF-34 engines. (66 built, including 4 Canadian ForcesCanadian ForcesThe Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
CL-144/ CC-144B)- CL-601-1A/ER: 601-1A retrofitted with an additional fuel tank in the tail
- CL-601-3A: engine with a higher flat rating and a glass cockpitGlass cockpitA glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, as opposed to the traditional style of analog dials and gauges...
. This was the first version marketed by Bombardier.- CL-601-3A/ER: 601-3A with an additional, optional fuel tank in the tail
- CL-601-3R: the tail tank was made standard, and airline style "unsided" engines (no left or right) were used, matching what was used on the CRJ.
CL-604
- CL-604: major upgrade of the 601 design, incorporating more powerful engines, larger fuel supply, including saddle tanks in the rear of the aircraft, new undercarriage for a higher takeoff and landing weight, structural improvements to wings and tail, and a new Collins ProLine 4 avionics system. The C-143A is a single Challenger 604 aircraft, which was acquired by the United States Coast Guard in December 2005 as its new Medium Range Command and Control Aircraft (MRC2A).
- CL-604 Multi-Mission Aircraft: militarized version in DanishDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
service. The aircraft are employed on maritime patrol and search and rescueSearch and rescueSearch and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
missions. They are capable of landing on the short, rough, gravel airstrips common in the Arctic.
CL-605
- CL-605: introduced in early 2006 as an avionics and structural upgrade of the 604 design. Structural improvements include larger cabin windows. Cockpit instrumentation updated with the Collins Proline 21 avionics and "electronic flight bagElectronic flight bagElectronic Flight Bag is an electronic information management device that helps flight crews perform flight management tasks more easily and efficiently with less paper...
" capability. It can be visually identified by a new, rounded tailcone.
CL-610
The CL-610 Challenger E was to have been a stretched version for use as a cargo plane by Federal Express, or alternatively, as a passenger aircraft with seating for 24 passengers. Federal Express placed orders for 25 CL-610s, but these orders were canceled after the passage of air cargo deregulation in the US in 1977. Development was halted by Canadair in 1981 without any having been built. A few years later, a new project would develop the Canadair Regional Jet based on a stretched Challenger design.Military operators
- Argentine Air ForceArgentine Air ForceThe Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...
- Royal Australian Air ForceRoyal Australian Air ForceThe Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
- No. 34 Squadron RAAFNo. 34 Squadron RAAFNo. 34 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force transport squadron. It is currently based at Canberra International Airport in the Australian capital Canberra, where it operates two Boeing 737 Business Jets and three Bombardier Challenger 604s.-History:...
- No. 34 Squadron RAAF
- Royal Canadian Air ForceRoyal Canadian Air ForceThe history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
: designated as the Bombardier CC-144 Challenger- No. 412 SquadronNo. 412 Squadron RCAFNo. 412 Transport Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force is one of 3 transport squadrons attached to CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario. This squadron, however, is based out of Ottawa, Ontario. It had formerly been attached to CFB Ottawa, which closed in 1994. The squadron operates with a strength...
- No. 434 SquadronNo. 434 Squadron RCAFNo. 434 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force bomber squadron that flew bombing operations over Europe during World War II and was later a post-war fighter and combat support unit. It was last disbanded in 2000.-Second World War:...
(former)
- No. 412 Squadron
- People's Liberation Army Air ForcePeople's Liberation Army Air ForceThe People's Liberation Army Air Force is the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army, the military of the People's Republic of China...
- Croatian Government (EMS and VIP Transport)
- Czech Air ForceCzech Air ForceThe Czech Air Force is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. The Air Force, with the Land Forces, comprises the Joint Forces, the main combat power of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic...
- Royal Danish Air ForceRoyal Danish Air ForceThe Royal Danish Air Force is the air force of Denmark with the capability to undertake homeland defense and homeland security roles as well international operations.-History:...
- LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
- United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
- United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast GuardThe United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
: designated as the Bombardier VC-143 Medium Range Command and Control Aircraft.
Civilian operators
- Morningstar Partners Ltd.: Operates one CL605 as part of fractional fleet.
- Government of the Czech Republic: Former operator
- Government of Croatia: Former operator
- Government Flying Service: Operates two CL605s as part of fractional fleet.
- Government of Jordan
- Hornbill SkywaysHornbill SkywaysHornbill Skyways is a regional charter helicopter service operating in towns and rural areas in Sarawak, Malaysia. The Sarawak state government owns most of Hornbill Skyways....
(One CL-605; for state executive flight)
- VistaJet Holding
- Nomad Aviation
- RegaRega (air rescue)The Rega is the air rescue service which provides emergency medical assistance in Switzerland, notably in mountains but also in cases of life-threatening emergencies elsewhere. They will also return a patron to Switzerland from a foreign country if they are in need of urgent medical care. Rega was...
air rescue, operates three CL604s