Bombardier Challenger 600

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The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets.

It was first produced by Canadair as an independent company and then produced from 1986 by Canadair as a division of Bombardier Aerospace.

Origins and Development

The origin of the Challenger 600 lies in Canadair’s purchase of a concept for a business jet aircraft, the LearStar 600 from the American inventor and aircraft developer Bill Lear.

However, Lear had practically no influence on the ensuing development and design of the aircraft.

Even the name LearStar was not new to this concept, since Lear had long before used the name for his conversion of Lockheed Loadstars into business transports.

Thus, Canadair quickly abandoned the name LearStar and adopted the name Challenger.

Canadair's top management was of the opinion that Lear’s concept was sketchy at best.[2] Lear did not have an expert grasp of aeronautical engineering.

He was also at financial low point, with a tiny staff. Thus, he had only been able to pay a California aeronautical consultant to do some very preliminary design explorations.

However, Canadair planned to use Lear’s name and skills at self-promotion to secure extensive financial guarantees for a business jet project from the Canadian Federal government.

This proved an effective choice. In the 1980 National Film Board documentary on the development of the aircraft,] future Prime Minister Jean Chretien specifically refers to the effect of personal contact with Lear (on Chretien’s decision to direct financial support to Canadair’s program).

At the time of these events, Chretien was successively President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce, and Minister of Finance, in the Canadian Federal government.

Due to the use of letters of comfort, the extent of the Ministry's financial commitments for Canadair could be kept from parliament and the public for several years.

These financial guarantees were later used as an academic example of insufficient monitoring and lax controls in government support of industry.

While the Challenger would be similar in general configuration to other aircraft of its type already on the market, certain of its features would stand-out.

For example, the use of a widened fuselage that allowed a "walk-about cabin".

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 test flight on 3 April 1980 in the Mojave Desert resulted in disaster, the aircraft crashing due to the failure of the release mechanism to detach the recovery chute after a deep stall, killing one of the test pilots (the other test pilot and the flight test engineer parachuted 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 takeoff 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.