Bombardier is beginning the process of trying to determine what caused an uncontained engine failure during ground maintenance testing of CSeries Flight Test Vehicle 1 in Mirabel, Quebec, on May 29 that has halted the certification program for the narrow-body jetliner.
One of the test airplane’s Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan engines failed during routine testing, which also damaged the airplane when shrapnel exploded from the nacelle.
Bombardier says it hopes to get to the bottom of what caused the engine failure quickly so that it can resume testing of the CSeries, which has been plagued by delays almost from the start. Originally due to be certified in late 2013, entry into service has been pushed out until the second half of 2015. Bombardier says it hopes this latest setback won’t delay the test program further.
Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney plan to begin tearing down the engine in the coming days to determine precisely what caused it to fail. On its website, Bombardier notes that the CSeries’ turbofan engines have completed more than 4,000 hours of testing.
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