About a week after the January 22 first flight of the Challenger 605, Bombardier relocated the test airplane to Wichita to begin the approximately 200 flight hours needed to achieve certification in the fourth quarter.

A second flight-test Challenger 605, with a production-conforming redesigned interior and new cabin-management system, is expected to join the flight-test fleet in July. The Challenger 604 derivative will replace its predecessor when it enters service in the third quarter of next year.

Two avionics test rigs–one at Bombardier’s flight-test facility in Wichita and the other at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa–are being used to put the Challenger 605’s Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics through its paces. According to Collins, paperless-cockpit capability will be added to the twinjet later in the test program.