Regional Jet

THE first Canadair 50‐passenger twinjet airliner made its initial flight in May and has attracted considerable interest from a variety of operators. Advanced design of the aircraft began in 1987 with the fuselage being based on a 20 ft. extension of that of the CL‐601 Challenger. The first Regional Jet is now well into the flight test phase having attained Mach 0.7 and an altitude of 41,000 ft in initial trials as well as in‐flight shutdowns and starts on both engines at 30,000 ft and a similar exercise accomplished for the APU at 15,000 ft.