"

I'I

I"flight Report

Bombardier's Global Express

Bombardier delivers a pilots' airplane-on time and on spec.

By Richard N AaronsPhotography by Paul Bowen

Bombardier's ultra-long rangeGlobal Express executive transportwas conceived in 1991 amid a flur­

ry of superlatives. It would be the largestairplane built specifically for the businessaviation market, the Canadian companysaid. It would have the biggest cabin andthe longest legs; it would be the onlybusiness aircraft designed from scratch tomeet ETOPS standards; it would be thefastest airplane in the fleet; it would bethe first business airplane constructed bymulti-national, risk-sharing partners; itwould have systems synoptics and ad-

vanced maintenance tracking systemsfound only on the latest air carrier de­signs; and it would have the most efficientwing ever built for a business airplane.

The GEX announcement startled po­tential competitors into action. Gulf­stream rushed to develop and market theG-v, a derivative of its successfulfamily oflarge business jets. Boeing and Airbusjumped in respectively with the BB], a 737derivative, and the A319C], an off-the­shelf transport with executive furnishings.

The sales organizations at Airbus, Boe­ing and Gulfstream took their best shotsas the necessarily slower paced GEX pro­ject moved along. Bombardier, some said,would never get all its international part­ners moving in the same direction in a co­ordinated fashion. The airplane, they said,

couldn't ,possiblybe developed on time. Itwouldn't meet its aggressive performanceguarantees, and, even if it did, the air­plane's systems integration was just toocomplicated. And certainly, the aircraft'sdramatically swept wing with all its mov­ing parts would be too difficult to flywith­out significant flightcrew compensation.

Now, almost seven years later, theBombardier sales force has an answer forthe project's detractors. The Global Ex­press has been certificated on schedule byTransport Canada and is expected to re­ceive type certificates from the FAA andthe ]AA within the next 60 days or so.And, the GEX, aptly described as themost sophisticated airplane ever designedfor business aviation, has met all its per­formance guarantees -it can go farther

Theclean, roomy cockpit of the Global Express is a showcase for the latest in avionics and system integration technologies. Honeywell Primus 2000XPEF/S/EICAS six-by-eight-inch displays provide the centerpiece. EICASand system synoptlcs pages (normally active on the center tubes) let the crewmonitor the state of all aircraft systems. While Bombardier has engineered a high degree of automation Into all aircraft systems, the crew can step Inat any time to override automatic processes. Dynamic synoptics displays along with logically arranged system controls minimize crew workload.Circuit breaker clutter is minimized by the electrical management system (EMS); each pilot has an EMS CDU (shown at the far right) through whichremote breakers can be checked and manipulated. Forward and side vlslbl/ity Is good. Production aircraft wl1lbe equipped with AMP 1.6-gseats.

faster than any other aircraft designed forthe business market.

Those folks who suggested the air­plane's third-generation, supercriticalwing would be difficult to fly, are justplain wrong, in our opinion. B/CA re­cently flew the Global Express both insimulation at Bombardier's Montrealtraining center and in flight at the com­pany's Wichita flight test facility. TheGEX is one of the best handling airplanesever introduced to the business aviationmarket. It's quick, nimble and smart.

All of this is not to say the program hasbeen without problems and challenges.For example, like most airplanes, theGEX is leaving the design phase a bitheavier than its makers would like, andsome icing tests and autopilot modes re­main to be cleared as additional certifica­tion items. But the IOU list is small.

Pete Reynolds, Bombardier vice presi­dent-engineering flight test, introducedus to the Global Express at the company'sWichita flight test center. His shop is oneof the most modern facilities in the worldand one of the busiest with 500 engineers,pilots and technicians working simultane­ously on several certification programs inaddition to the GEX. They launch andtrack over 400 test flights monthly. Each

of the four Global Express prototypes isputting in two and sometimes threeflights daily at the center.

Bombardier provided SIN 9001 for ourflight evaluation. It's painted in corporatelivery, but remains active in the flight testprogram and is still stuffed with orangeflight test consoles and systems. GEXSIN 9001 has logged more than 900hours proving the handling characteristicsand airport performance of the design.

Our morning with this airplane beganwith a preflight inspection. My first im­pression as we approached the aircraft wasthat the Global Express is, in fact, a bigairplane. Measuring five inches short of100 feet in overall length and standing 25feet tall at the tail, the GEX dwarfed otherBombardier products parked nearby. Infact, the GEX's horizontal tail surface hasabout the same span and area as some ofthe early Learjets.

Walk Around

We began at the nose that has standardAOA vanes and air data sensors for dual,independent AOA and air data systems.Additionally the nose provides a plarformfor dual, independent, ice detection sen­sors that support the automatic mode ofthe airplane's ice protection system. Wing

anti-ice activates automatically when theaircraft enters icing conditions andswitches off when the threat ends. (Thewing anti-ice system routes engine bleedair to the leading edge and to the slats.)

The nose wheel is conventional. Steer­ing is electrically controlled and hydrauli­cally powered. A cockpit tiller providesfull authority (+1- 80 degrees) steering,while linked rudder pedals provide limit­ed authority directional control.

The Ram Air Turbine (RAT) is housedin the right nose compartment forward ofthe cockpit bulkhead. It can be loweredinto the air stream to provide essentialhydraulic and electrical power in the un­likely event of complete failure of themulti-redundant engine driven systems.

Moving to the right wing root, weopened the pressure fueling access panel.This refueling station, located on theleading edge of the forward fairing nearthe wing root, is easily accessible fromground level. Its control panel includesindicators for total fuel quantity andamounts in each tank. The operator canselect fully automatic fueling or controlfuel distribution manually. At 300 gpm,refueling to full capacity-all 43,350pounds-can be accomplished in about20 minutes. Overwing fueling is possible.

Interiors may cost about US$5.5 million and weigh 6,000 lb. to 6,500 lb. Flight-test engineering station In S/N 9001., the B/CA evaluation aircraft.

1"f1ight Report

The Global Express wing, manufactured by Mltsublshl Heavy Industries Ltd., Is a complex, third-generation, supercrltlcal airfoil with wlnglets, ailerons, ground

spoilers, multi-function spoilers, the latter used to assist roll control and to provide 11ftdump In the air and on the ground, and single-slotted Fowler flaps. The 35­

degree sweep and airfoil shape are optimized for cruise In the 0.80 to 0.85 Mach range. MMo Is 0.90 above 35,000 feet. Leading and trailing edge devices

tame airport speeds. Speeds for takeoff at 93,500 lb. gross weight are V1/VR, 124 KIAS and V2, :1.34 KIAS. Approach VREF at maximum landing weight of

78,600 lb. Is :1.29 KIAS. Aerodynamic refinements to the design have continued during flight test. The flap-gap seals, shown on the left, are an example. Engi­

neers at Bombardier's Montreal structures test lab have completed one life of fatigue testing. Ultimate load came with a 92-lnch deflection at the wing tip.

The main gears are massive trailing linkstructures built for growth. A three-levelauto-braking system is certificated asstandard equipment. Brake temperaturesare indicated on the EICAS. The originalspecification (and initial type certificationpaperwork) calls for a maximum taxiweight of 93,750 pounds, a MTOW of93,500 pounds, and a max landing weightof 78,600 pounds. Customer airplaneswill get a paperwork change to boostramp and takeoff weight respectively to94,250 pounds and 94,000 pounds. Youcan anticipate additional takeoff-weightincreases as the product is refined. Thereis no plan to increase max landing weight,nor is there a plan to add an emergencyfuel dump system for an immediate re­turn after a MTOW departure. However,Bombardier engineers will add a sensorto the undercarriage that will flag anoverweight landing in the maintenancedata recording system for an immediateinspection.

As we continued the walk-around,Reynolds expanded on the weight situa­tion. (We also discussed this later withKevin Hoffman, GEX product manager.)Bombardier's manufacturers emptyweight target was 41,000 pounds. With atypical outfitting allowance of 6,000pounds, that generated a manufacturersempty weight outfitted (MEWO) of47,000 pounds

The first five production airplanesrolled out of the factory on average about300 pounds overweight -most of thatdue to the first BMW/Rolls RoyceBR710A2-20101 engines arriving inCanada a few hundred pounds heavy.

At the same time, Bombardier has dis­covered that while it's possible to deliveran interior at 6,000 pounds, a 6,500

pound allowance will allow customers toavail themselves of additional nice-to­have options for ultra-long range opera­tions such as a cabin humidificationsystem, a head-up guidance system, athird FMS, electric crew seats, extra com­munications systems, etc.

BMW/Rolls tells Bombardier it is cut­ting some weight out of engines (apromise also made to Gulfstream), and, aswe've seen, Bombardier is increasing maxweight limits where it can.

As we walked around the right wing tip,we got a good look at the striking geome­try of this optimized, third generation su­percritical airfoil. Shaped by wind-tunnelwork and computational fluid dynamicstechniques, its 35-degree sweep and 94­foot span put its winglets abeam the en­gine nacelles.

The full span of each leading edge sup­ports hydraulically actuated slats-foursections on each side. The trailing edge isfitted with an outboard aileron and in­board si~gle-slotted, electrically operatedFowler flaps, three per side. The top ofeach wing has two inboard ground spoil­ers and four multi-function spoilers(aileron augmentation, air brakes, andground-lift dump). The bottom of theairfoil is clean and has the beautiful, exag­gerated compound curves characteristicof this class of wing. This wing's sharpsweep and high aspect ratio is necessaryfor efficient Mach 0.85 cruise. Yet theleading- and trailing-edge devices tame itfor low-speed airport maneuvering withtakeoff and approach speeds well belowthe competition for comparable weights.

The APU is in the tail cone. A largeequipment bay aft of the pressure bulk­head has a belly door. From the groundposition you can make a gross inspection

of major ECS, hydraulic and electricalsystem components. Remote quantitygauges for the hydraulic system reservoirsare located behind an access panel aft ofthe left wing root. Quick checks of thispanel and the left landing main gear andwing lead us back to the airstair.

Flying the GEX

Reynolds ascended the steps, steppedinto the cockpit and took the right seat. Ifollowed and slipped into the left. ScottRunyan, a GEX flight test engineer, sat inthe rear at an orange test console to trackour maneuvers and compute speeds,weights and CGs. Perry Bradley, B/CA'sexecutive editor, rode jump and kept thelog. Photographer Paul Bowen came withus too.

The cockpit of the GEX is wide, roomyand remarkably uncluttered, even withseveral flight test instruments and controlsthat will not appear in production aircraft.I settled into the fully articulated seat,strapped in and adjusted the rudder ped­als. Reynolds pointed out that the seats inSIN 9001 are 9-g units, but productionaircraft will be outfitted with 16-g seatsfrom AMP in compliance with the latestFARs.

In terms of switches, dials, knobs, but­tons and gauges, the GEX is unquestion­ably the cleanest airplane in the businessfleet. First, the fields of circuit breakersthat populate the overhead and side panelsof most business jets are missing from theGEX. Instead, each pilot has at his out­board knee an Electrical ManagementSystem (EMS) Control and Display Unit(CDU) through which remote solid-statecircuit breakers can be manipulated.

Actually, the EMS, as its name implies,takes care of all routine and most non-

Bombardier's engineers were able to tap Into Canadair RJ airline ground operations experience for ideas in Global Express servicing and maintainability. All ser­

vice panels are at ground level and provide full annunciation of system quantities and states. Activities directed from these panels are also displayed on the

cockpit EICAS. The panels shown here are the AC/DC auxiliary power hookup, the O2 fill station and the pressure refueling station. The all-digital aircraft is

equipped with a central aircraft information and maintenance system (CAlMS) that logs selected aircraft system faults and identifies offending LRUs or inter­

laces. Maintenance technicians access CAlMS using a PC terminal supplied with a special interface. Optionally, CAlMS data can be transmitted to remote ser­

vice facilities while the aircraft is en route. Bombardier anticipates these hourly maintenance costs: airframe, $1.37; engine restoration, $1.67; APU $23;

routine switching required to manage theAC and DC electrical systems-four 40KVA AC engine-driven generators, one45 KVA APU-driven generator, four150Atransformer rectifier units, a 9-KVARAT-driven emergency generator, andtwo nickle cadmium batteries. However, ifyou want to climb in manually, the EMS­CDUs can display breaker states by thebus or by the system. A push of a button"sets" or "pulls" a highlighted breaker.Only a handful of conventional breakersremain in the cockpit and those aremounted on a small panel behind theright seat.

The accompanying pictures of the GEXcockpit tell much of the story. Each of thesix Honeywell Primus 2000XPEFIS/ElCAS displays is eight inches talland seven inches wide. (See the avionicssidebar.) The two outb-oard tubes are Pri­mary Flight Displays (PFD). The tubesjust inboard of the PFDs are usually set toshow navigation, radar and traffic infor­mation, but can be used for EICAS andsynoptics. The left center screen in nor­mal operations shows the status of thepowerplants and critical systems, and theright center screen is usually set to a sys­tem synoptic page. Conventional standbyinstruments are stacked vertically in thecenter.

Flight Guidance system controls arespread out under the glare shield. I had abit of trouble finding the matte blackknobs against the matte black backgroundof the FGS panel on the flight test air­plane. However, this panel in productionaircraft will be light gray providing plentyof contrast. The triple-wide center con­sole has ample room for dual PrimusFMS, triple Laseref III IRS, triple commsas well as throttles, speed brakes, electric

aileron/rudder trim, radio control unitsand display controllers.

The overhead panel provides controlsfor the engines and systems, eacharranged physically to match the ElCASsynoptic displays. Thus, the "picture" onthe overhead for any system matches the"picture" on the synoptics page makingmanual selection wholly logical and intu­itive. GEX systems were designed fromthe start to meet or exceed Extended Twin

Engine Operations Standards (ETOPS),the rules for system reliability and multi­ple-level redundancy required for air car­rier operations on extended over-waterroutes. To this end, the airplane has fourindependent electrical systems with sixAC power sources, and three independenthydraulic systems with seven powersources. The hydraulically powered flightcontrols are triple redundant and theflaps/slats subsystems are powered by dualmotors.

Bombardier was pushing for a market­place advantage with this design, and, infact, got it. While the GEX systems arerich with redundancy, pilot workload inmanaging them is light due in large partto an extraordinarily capable Engine Indi­cation and Crew Alerting System(EICAS).

Reynolds tuned the radios and toggledthrough the pre-start checklist on theElCAS. The basic cockpit configuration is"dark and automatic," that is to say that alllights and EICAS messages should be ex­tinguished and all switches should be inthe AUTOMATIC position.

Waking up the airplane is a simple mat­ter. First the AlliedSignal REnO APU isbrought on line by holding its switch inthe spring-loaded START position fortwo seconds and allowing it to drop back

to the RUN detent. Reynolds fingered thedisplay controller to bring up the electri­cal and hydraulic system synoptic screensalong with the default engine statusscreen. It's the best way, he said, to get afeel for system health during the start se­quence. The entire process plays out visu­ally as the APU starts powering primarypneumatic, electrical and hydraulic cir­cuits (as it would in an inflight-emer­gency) and later as the redundant enginedriven electrical, pneumatic and hydraulicaccessories come on line and share loads.

Not only is system configuration automat­ic at power-up, but system reconfigurationto handle abnormal situations is automatic

as well. The pilots get- notification on theEICAS whenever an automatic subsystemdoes something that otherwise would notbe entirely obvious.

~ormal pneumatic (APU or GPU) en­gine start is controlled by the BMW /RollsBR710s' FADECs, and is fully automatic.A guarded push-button FUEL CUTOFFswitch is located just aft of each throttle.Pushing a button initiates the automaticengine start/stop sequence. The sole crewtask is to monitor the ElCAS-a quick ac­celeration of N2 to 15 percent, ignitionicon at 20 percent, a gradual lIT rise, ig­nition off at 42 percent, starter off at 45percent and acceleration to 65 percentwhere the engine stabilizes. Each starttook less than 65 seconds.

Engine Pressure Ratio (EPR) is primaryfor setting power. The engines can becontrolled by reference to Nl in the eventof failure of an EPR sensor or EPRFADEC channel. As I moved theEPRlNl switch, the ElCAS indicators

changed to indicate the selection.Forward, side and aft visibility are excel­

lent, but you can't see much of the highly

Bombardier Global ExpressThese graphs are designed to be used together to provide a broad view of Global Express performance. Do not use them for flight planning.

For a complete operational performance analysis, consult the flight planning and cruise performance manuals, as well as the FAA·approvedflight manual.

Range Payload Profile - The purpose of this graph is to

provide rough simulations of trips under a variety of pay­

load and airport density altitude conditions, with the goal

of flying the longest distance at high-speed cruise. The pay­

load lines, which are intended for gross simulation purpos­

es only, are each generated from several points. Fuel

burns and times can be approximated using the Block Time

and Fuel Versus Distance graph or the Block Fuel graph.

Balanced field lengths have been recomputed to reflect

the most recent flight test data. Range and fuel burn num­

bers are still preliminary pending verification during F&R

flight test.

Block time and Fuel Versus Distance - This graph shows

two missions. The upper line represents high-speed cruise

and the lower line represents long·range cruise. The num·bers ant the hour lines indicate cumulative miles and fuel

burned for those two cruise profiles. the intermediate paints

only are accurate for the fUll trip. They can, however, pro·

vide a rough approximation of the time and fuel required

for trips of intermediate length. The chart assumes an

eight-passenger, 1,600 pound payload.

7060

BLOCK FUEL

20 30 40 50

NBAA IFR Range (nm x 1,000)10

Conditions: 1,600-lb payload(8 pax); NBAA IFR reserves;zero wind; ISA; max cruisealtitude, FL 510

40

3530~ 25

Qj

.z 20"""0iii 15

10516

0

0

1412

Conditions: 1,600-lb payload(8 pax); NBAA IFR reserves;zero wind; ISA; max cruisealtitude, FL 510

6 8 10Time (hrs)

42

- Normal-Speed Cruise(0.85 Mach)

- Long-Range Cruise(0.80 Mach)

o .o

6,410 Ib /1 11,410 Ib

1,000--t3,7~0 'bL(\;fir. 6,170 Ib'3,680Ib

2,000

6,000

5,000

E.:. 4,000••"c~ 3,000Q

BLOCK TIME AND FUEL VERSUS DISTANCE7,000

Balanced Field Length (ft)Gross

5,000 ft I TakeoffISA+20°C Weight (Ibs)

RANGE/PAYLOAD PROFILE

7,0006,000

Conditions: 1,600-lb payload(8 pax); NBAA IFR reserves;zero wind; ISA; long-rangecruise speed 0.80 Mach;max cruise altitude, FL 510

5,0003,000 4,000

Range (nm)2,0001,000

93,500

90,00085,00080,00075,00070,00065,00060,000 ~0

4,900

4,300

3,280

3,750

6,270

7,680

7,130

5,550

SLISA-

5,620

5,2304,7004,1703,690

il

3,270

2,9102,620

CD

~0V>"'ro0

swept wings-just the tips, and that re­quires a healthy over-the-shoulder stretch.Ramp personnel pulled the chocks andwaved us ahead and I advanced the throt­tles to get us moving. (GEX crews willwant to use wing watchers when maneu­vering on crowded ramps.)

Tight ground maneuvering requires useof the tiller on the left cockpit side-panel.The full-authority hand wheel is sensitivebut easily mastered. Minimum pavementwidth required for a 180-degree turn is 68feet, so you can swing the airplane on astandard width taxiway.

I threaded our way through the crowd-

ed Test Center ramp complex, gettingused to the steering and brakes. The car­bon brakes are nicely modulated by theirelectronic control unit but they require agentle touch.

Aircraft 9001 weighed just over 71,000pounds as we moved down the taxiway.That included 1,000 pounds of crew,7,500 pounds of flight test equipment­and 12,100 pounds of fuel. Putting thatweight into perspective, we could haveflown four passengers 3,300 nm withNBAA IFR zero wind reserves in a corpo­rate-equipped Global Express departing atthat weight.

Ground control cleared us to Runway1L. Wmd was 110 at 13, giving us moder­ate right crosswind. Runyan computedtakeoff speeds for our ambients-V1NR104, V2 118, VITO 156 and VREFfor animmediate remm 122. Reynolds pluggedthese into the FMS performance pages toset the vertical tape display bugs. In pro­duction aircraft, FMS software will do thisautomatically as soon as the crew confirmspayload weight. The system also will beable to compute flextakeoff.

We moved into position at 1130 hoursand the tower cleared us for an immediatetakeoff. I pushed the throttles forward to

the stop-the FADEC accelerates theBR710s to max computed takeoff powerkeepingEPR and other parameters withinlimits.Engine spool-up and aircraft accel­eration where quick. I found the low-au­thority, rudder-pedal, nose-wheel steeringprovided plenty of control, even with thecrosswind. I held slight aileron into thewind; Reynolds called 80 knots for acrosscheck then VINR. I rotated to 12degrees nose up-rotation forces weresurprisingly light-and S/N9001 sprangoffthe runway.

We were off the ground in a little under3,000feet (a rough estimate based on run­way markers) and accelerated instanta­neouslyto V2. Initial climb rate was about2,000 fpm quickly accelerating to 3,000fpm as Reynolds retracted gear and flaps.After a short delay at 5,000 ft. msl, depar­ture control cleared us for climb, and I letthe airplane accelerate to 250 knots. Verti­cal speed increased through 4,000 fpm.Visibility over the nose and to the sideswasexcellent.

Climbing through the high twenties, Ihand flew the airplane experimenting withthe hydraulically powered flight con­trols-with and without the yaw damperengaged.The airplane is in every respect adelight to fly. It's agile and responsive.Feel gradients provided by the Q systemare nicely modulated (as we discovered)throughout the entire envelope.

With 9001 still trimmed in a climb atti­tude, I switched off the dual-channel yawdamp system and perturbed the airplanewith a good push on the left rudder fol­lowedimmediately by a push on the right(a doublet). The airplane responded, asexpected, with a Dutch roll oscillation. Iheld the wings level with feet on the floorandthe Dutch roll damped positively aftera dozen or so swings.

Reynolds told us the Dutch roll is actu­ally divergent at high cruise altitudes asyou would expect with a 35-degree wingsweep."Initially it was a concern," he said."When we looked at in the simulatorwithout motion we saw it was hard to con­trol. However, with motion cues available,it was easy to control. Any time there is apilot in the loop, the aircraft is stable (inhigh-altitude Dutch-roll mode), but handsoff, it is divergent. The result is that theflight envelope is limited to 45,000 feetwithyaw-damp off.

Bradley recorded a climb rate of 2,200fpm going thorough FL 300 at 250 KIASburning 2,760 pph per engine. ATC heldus briefly at FL 350 about 12 minutesafter liftoff. We had 9,700 pounds of fuelremaining and were burning about 2,100pph per side. At 1147 hours we werecleared to FL 410 with a block to FL 470

B/CA's introduction to the GEX beganin Montreal at the Bombardier Aero­space Training Center where all flight­crews and maintenance technicianswill be trained. "We are gearing up tohandle 450 pilots and 550 mainte­nance techs a year," said Terry Yad­daw, the center's business aircrafttraining director. Included'in the $32.2million price of each aircraft is trainingfor four pilots, two maintenance tech­nicians and one flight attendant.

Prices for training beyond that in­cluded with the aircraft are as follows:initial pilot, $31,000; recurrent pilot$23,250; full service initial (initialplus one recurrent), $38,500; fullservice recurrent (two sessions peryear), $31,000; initial maintenancetechnician $16,150.

The initial pilot training program in­cludes 16 hours in a flight training de­vice (FrD), 24 hours in a full functionsimulator (FFS) and about 60 hours ofclassroom sessions. The program isexpected to require three weeks.

The five-week maintenance tech pro­gram includes basic operational pres­entation of aircraft systems andavionics and an optional additionaltwo days for engine ground runs andtaxi procedures.

The EICAS in the all-digital Global Ex­press is the best systems instructiondevice available-better than anyclassroom because its synoptic pagesgive you real-time graphics of subsys­tem states as you manipulate cockpitswitches. So, time in the FrD replacesclassroom time in more traditional air­craft, accelerating learning. The train­ing center has one fixed-based GEX

for high altitude work. I established climbat Mach 0.80 and we were seeing 2,000fpm to 2,200 fpm and about 2,400 pph perside. First step for max gross weight de­partures will be FL 430. Bombardierflightcrews plan 30 minutes to TOCunder these conditions. We leveled off atFL 440 about 25 minutes after takeoffwith two ATC holds and our handlingcharacteristics checks thrown in.

I allowed the airplane to accelerate toMach 0.84 and executed steep turns in ei­ther direction. We picked up a slight buf­fet at 1.9 g's. As the g-Ioad increased thebuffet just gets more pronounced. TheGEX maneuvering margin is wide. At51,000 feet and Mach 0.80, the GEX mar­gin is just over 1.5 g's compared with theG-V at 1.4 g's and the typical airliner at

flight training device and one full-func­tion GEX simulator, the latter a full-sizereplica of aircraft SIN 9007 's flightdeck. The six-axis simulator providescomplete fidelity of sound and motionalong with a superbdaylight/dusk/night visual system.Built by CAE in Montreal, the simulatorobtained interim FAA Level C certifica­tion last month and is expected to re­ceive Level D certification in 1999 ..The visual system, called "Maxview,"has a 210-degree horizontal field ofview, a 40-degree vertical field andfive-channel projection than enablescross-cockpit viewing.

The GEX simulator has been usedby the JAA, the FAA and TransportCanada during the operational andtype assessment of the aircraft. Bom­bardier decided early on to get datafrom the Wichita flight test center intothe simulator and training device as itbecame available. Thus, the Montrealmachines became engineering toolsand the various certification agenciescould look at the aircraft and trainingdevices as a package. Bombardierhas committed to keep its training de­vices and simulators current with theinstallation of all options available onthe fleet-dual GPS, FMS and Laser­trak, for example, and SATCOM simu­lation, Head Up Guidance andAirborne Flight Information Systems.

"This means the Global Express pilottraining program will be the secondbusiness aircraft program in the indus­try to train- pilots ahead of the first air­craft delivery using fully certificatedtraining devices," said Yaddaw. "Thefirst in the industry was the CL-604."

1.3 g's. The GEX margin at 49,000 feet atMach 0.85 is 1.6 g's compared with 1.4 g'sfor the Gulfstream V

Next we drifted up to the top of ourblock, and I pushed over into a 1,000-fpmdescent. As acceleration cues began toshow an overspeed impending, the Machnumber indication on the PFD speed tapewent to amber. Then we got a red Machnumber and an aural alert as overspeedwas imminent. The Mach trim, workingthrough the flight control computer, man­aged attitude adeptly as we slipped 10knots into the red zone.

Level again at FL 440 and Mach 0.85, Ideployed full spoilers hands off lookingfor trim changes. We got a momentarynose-up pitch-fingertip pressures com­pensated for the trim changes.

I"flight Report

94.0'(28.7 m)

notch of flaps thereafter reduced the stallspeed about five knots. I detected norolling tendency at stall with slats de­ployed.

We returned to Wichita for patternwork weighing about 65,000 pounds. Ourfirst approach was a manual ILS to Run­way 19 for a touch-and-go. VREFwas 117KIAS. We popped back up into the pat­tern, maneuvered for a visual at 180 KIASwith slats/flaps 6 degrees and toucheddown for a full stop with deep reverse andfull breaking. The FADEC modulates thereverse thrust automatically so the engines

begin to decelerate as the air­craft slows below 65 knots. Thismeans you can keep some re­verse selected down to 35 knots.

We taxied back for a final pat­tern circuit, this one with a simu­lated engine failure. At ourweight, computed speeds wereVINR 98, V2 113, VREFfor im­mediate return 116. As it turnedout, Reynolds chopped the en­gine at 93 knots and told me tocontinue. We accelerated,climbed out and negotiated thepattern with an intentionally flatapproach on final-VREF was121-to feel rudder control.There wasplenty.

During all our pattern workwe had a 10- to 12-knot cross­wind. The GEX was easy tohandle in the air on two enginesor one. Aircraft control on theground was positive and preciseusing the rudder-pedal linkednose wheel steering, and auto­matic ground spoiler deploy­ment never left a doubt aboutthe airplane sticking to theground once both main gearwere compressed on touchdown. All of our distances werewell inside computed perform­ance figures.

Reynolds is justifiability proudof the Global Express. After all,his people have managed toflight test and certificate on timeand on performance an aircraftthat is arguably the world's mostsophisticated business jet. "Itseems like its too big to go as

fast as it does andtoo big to go as slowas it does, but it doesthem both beautiful­ly," he said as we un­buckled. I have toagree with him.

Usually, we havethe opportunity to

_ 99.4' _(30.3 m)

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL EXPRESS

as we cleaned up. Next we configured theairplane for a clean stall. Flight engineerRunyan's computer predicted we wouldfeel the shaker at 125 KIAS and that thepusher would fire at 118 KIAS. We actu­ally got the shaker at about 127 KIAS, andgot some buffet and the pusher at 119KIAS. The aircraft rolled off slightly tothe left as it nosed over, but the roll waseasily controlled.

Reynolds told us that slat extension pro­vides the largest decrement in stall speed.We repeated the stall with just slats ex­tended and it came at 98 KIAS. Each

44.0'" (13.4 m)

AT 1204 hours we started down. Ipulled the power to idle, deployed theboards, and let the airplane have its head.There was no vibration and very littlerumble from the spoilers. Descent in­creased to 6,000 fpm, then gradually to9,000 fpm. Then I pushed forward on theyoke to MMo; the required deck angle wasa comfortable lO-degrees nose down. Thevertical rate pegged at its 9,900-fpm indi­cating limit. (Of course, in normal opera­tions TOD begins some 100- to 120-nmout. You pull back to idle, and the descentworks out. Completion of icing certifica­tion flight test series in actualconditions awaits cooler weather,however, preliminary data sug-gest the engines produce plentyof bleed air at idle to keep thewings warm during descent.)

We slipped into a cloud layera few thousand feet thick,emerged at 15,000 feet and con­tinued down to 12,500 feet for astall series and additional con­figuration checks. We ran outslats at 223 KIAS followed bysix-degrees flaps approaching200 KIAS, then slats-plus flaps16 degrees. The airplanepitched up slightly, but that trimchange was swallowed quicklyby its continued deceleration.We lowered the gear at 200knots and then went to full flapsat 185 KIAS. Once again, I wasable to handle all trim changeswith fingertip pressures.

I allowed SIN 9001 to decel­erate to a VREF of 119 KIAS,leveled off and executed a seriesof turns. Roll control is respon­sive and brisk right down tostick shaker. Reynolds pulledthe right engine. VREF for en­gine out operation is five knotshigher than that for two-engineoperation. No configurationchange is needed. Rudder pedalpressures are reasonable. Re­versing a 30-degree roll into thedead engine was smooth andwithout hesitation.

A.simulated go-aro~d in the '-- ,.----.g..' Iengme-out configuratIon proved 0 0uneventful. The flight directorcommanded a wings-level 13-degree noseup attitude when Ihit the go-aroundbutton on the throt­tle. \Vith one enginerunning we gotabout 2,200 fpmclimb at 13,000 feet