By Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren / Published May 30, 2014
Photo by Bombardier
The Wall St Journal reported that Bombardier’s CSeries jet has suffered an uncontained engine failure during ground testing on Friday. Bombardier, via a statement, said that the jet would be grounded until an investigation is complete. There were no injuries.
The incident took place on the program’s flagship aircraft, FTV1, while involved in ground maintenance testing, according to Bombardier. The WSJ has since confirmed the incident damaged both the engine and body of the aircraft.
The engine in question would be Pratt & Whitney’s latest development, the Geared Turbofan PW1500G. The power-plant, which features a new fuel saving concept that has different parts of the engine core running at different speeds, is the exclusive engine for the airplane. The incident hands a fresh setback to an already sluggish test program, and is likely to add another delay to an airplane that has already been beset by them.
It could also be a major setback for P&W, which has pinned a lot of its commercial hopes on the engine. The engine is currently exclusive not only to Bombardier’s CSeries line, but also to Embraer’s coming E-2 regional jet. Perhaps most pressing, it has been an increasingly popular option for the Airbus A320neo series. Over 5,500 are current on order. The Connecticut based company has not released a statement and has not been available to provide comment.
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Contact the author at Jeremy.Lindgren@Airchive.com
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