Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier Inc., confirmed that the CSeries will be flying for the first time by the end of June this same year. The announcement was made during Bombardier’s Annual General Meeting, held on May 9th 2013.

“The CSeries tests are progressing,” Mr. Beaudoin said in a statement, “with (the) first flight (scheduled for) next month”. The first CSeries flight test vehicle (FTV1) will soon be handed over to the Bombardier Flight Test Center. The plane will then complete the last phase before the flight.

The new Bombardier CSeries is a game-changer in the aerospace industry. Designed for the growing 100- to 149-seat market, the 100% new CSeries aircraft family combines advanced materials, leading-edge technology and proven methods to meet current and future commercial airline requirements. Powered by Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1500G engines, the CSeries aircraft family will offer operators a 15% per cent cash operating cost advantage with a smaller CO2 footprint thanks to its 20% fuel burn advantage.

The CSeries aircraft’s clean-sheet design is ensuring that the aircraft will achieve greatly reduced noise and emissions, as well as superior operational flexibility, exceptional airfield performance and a range of 2,950 NM (5,463 km). The CSeries aircraft will be up to 12,000 lbs. (5,443 kg) lighter than other aircraft in the same seat category and will provide passengers with a best-in-class, widebody cabin environment in a single-aisle aircraft.

At the Annual meeting, Pierre Beaudoin also reported the company’s excellent financial results for the first quarter of 2013, ending on March 31st. “We had a good first quarter, with an overall increase in revenues of 25%,” Mr. Beaudoin, pointed out. “(Bombardier) Aerospace is showing increased deliveries, revenues and EBIT”, he added.

Cseries website

below you can find some video of the last stages of the paint for the FTV1:

The Swiss Air Force will celebrate 100 years of their existence in 2014. This anniversary will be a red-letter day. Several events will be organised in 2014 in order to mark this centenary appropriately and honour the people who have left their mark on the air force with their commitment and dedication. In the same year, the Patrouille Suisse will celebrate its 50th jubilee and the PC-7 Team its 25th.

The festivities will be launched south of the Alps where Locarno Air Base will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its military and civilian airfield. In July, the official celebration will be held at the location where it all began: Bern Beundenfeld.

An anniversary of such importance cannot be celebrated without an air show and in 2014 there will be not just one but two. On two consecutive weekends at the end of August and beginning of September, Payerne will become the rendezvous for international aviation enthusiasts with AIR 14 PAYERNE:

• 30-31 August and 6-7 September 2014

Vintage aeroplanes, aerobatic teams, legendary aircraft and people will meet at the Broye to celebrate and honour the Swiss Air Force. During the week between these two major events, Payerne will be the place for renewing old acquaintances, making new discoveries, discussions, debates, entertaining events, …

The AIR 14 PAYERNE is a major military event that will give all branches of the armed forces the opportunity to present themselves within the air show context. This major event can be realised thanks to the support of the entire armed forces.

Colonel GS Ian Logan, head of the AIR 14 project, is responsible for the overall organisation of the centenary year activities.

Swiss Air Force website

Manufacturer: Diamond Aircraft, Wiener-Neustadt Air Base, Austria 
Modifications: Aurora Flight Science, Manassas, USA 
Capacity: 1 pilot und 3 passengers (see text for further configurations of OPA) 
Construction year: 2012 
Number of procured aircraft: 1

Registration: R-711


The Diamond DA42 Centaur OPA does not belong to the inventory of the Swiss Air Force and is flown by armasuisse  pilots only.


On 28 November 2012, the first Centaur OPA, coming from the USA, landed at the Emmen air base and was delivered to armasuisse. Switzerland is thus the first customer for this advanced technology platform ‘Centaur OPA’ that has been developed by Aurora Flight Science in Manassas (USA).

As assigned by the Armed Forces Staff armasuisse is testing with these Centaur OPA sensors which could be deployed on future UAV systems. The project is primarily aimed at certifying ‘sense and avoid’ with a view to authorisation a future drone for all Swiss airspace categories, day and night, without OMBRA, as well as the expertise for deployment of payloads relating to SAR/SIGINT, testing SOA concepts (service oriented architecture) and SatCom operations. In a primary phase, work will be done that relates mainly to ‘sense and avoid’ procedures for unmanned aircraft.

The twin engine Centaur OPA (optionally piloted aircraft) is based on the Austrian Diamond DA42 MPP Guardian plane ( www.diamond-sensing.com  ). OPA enables operation in three modes: manned, hybride and unmanned. In the ‘hybride’ mode the aircraft is remote controlled by a crew in a ground control station and has in addition a backup pilot on board, who can take over the controls if necessary. This operational mode provides the best conditions for testing, validating and certifying new avionics concerning ‘sense and avoid’ (automatic detection and evasion of other aircraft). ‘Sense and avoid’ -test flights in the ‘hybrid’ mode were started already at the beginning of 2013.

Altogether the following OPA configurations are possible:

• Manned: 1 Pilot and 3 passengers (PAX) as VFR/IFR liaison aircraft, or 1 pilot and 1 payload operator (back seat), VFR/IFR operations
• Hybrid: 1 Pilot und 1 Payload Operator (pack seat if payload operator required), VFR/IFR operations
• Unmanned: no on board crew, VFR/IFR operations

The most interesting aspect of the aircraft itself are its Austro Engine AE300 diesel engines. Their special feature is low noise and low pollution as well as particularly modest fuel consumption. Apart from diesel fuel the A 1 jet can be tanked with jet fuel or any mixture of both.

The machine which is registered as R-711 (R stands in the Swiss Air Force for reconnaissance) is stationed at the Emmen air base and is assigned to the flight test section of armasuisse.


Technical data
Configuration of liaison aircraft (EASA VFR/IFR certification)

• Long range tanks
• GARMIN G 1000 with GFC 700 autopilot
• TKS deicing system
• Bubble canopy
• Endurance approx. 4.5 h (pilot + 2 passengers + luggarge = approx. 300 kg)
• Cruise approx. 130 KT IAS at about. 70% performance
• Fuel flow approx. 12 gal/h (both engines together)
• Propulsion: Austro Engine AE300 two diesel engines with the special 
  noise & IR signature reduction kit 

Hybride and unmanned configuration (armasuisse certification)

Aircraft

• Triplex avionic (Aurora), incl. 3-fold redundancy of GPS and Pitot tube
• Redundant servos
• 2 VHF radio instruments
• Mode S transponder
• TKS deicing system
• Payload pods: universal nose (approx. 65 kg), nose pod (approx. 85 kg), belly pod (approx. 100 kg), 
  underfloor radar pod (16 kg)
• For each engine an additional 100A generator (electric power supply for payload)
• Redundant and encrypted data link in C band (range approx. 200 km with 11 MB/s)
• Health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) via Iridium satellite
• Endurance approx. 7 h with: 
  a) Safety pilot + payload = approx. 220 kg (hybrid) 
  b) Payload approx. 220 kg (unmanned)

Ground

• 1 ground control station (GCS)
• 1 remote communications terminal (RCT)