Bombardier’s C Series CS100 C-FFCO test aircraft spent most of March based in Zurich performing route proving trials for SWISS. C-FFCO’s time in Europe was meant to ensure that all will go smoothly when the CS100 begins flying for SWISS later this year. The route proving trials put the aircraft through simulated airline operations before SWISS takes delivery of its first C Series 100 in June.
Flight deck by AviaStar Phtography
The aircraft visited nearly all destinations SWISS intends to serve with the CS100 in its first year in service. But what does a month of simulated operations looks like? We decided to take a look and see what C-FFCO was up to during its European tour.
C-FFCO visited over 20 destinations, including Zurich, flying throughout Europe as close to Zurich as Stuttgart (145 km) and as far as Bucharest (1,391 km). SWISS took the opportunity of each visit to further familiarize their crews with different aspects of the CS100 as well as familiarizing service providers, such as contracted ground crews, with the aircraft.
During the 20 days of trials, the Bombardier CS100 pilots became quite familiar with Zurich Airport. The route proving flights were all flown by Bombardier’s own pilots, but SWISS pilots were on board as observers.
SWISS currently has orders for 20 CS100 aircraft and 10 of the larger CS300 aircraft. The CS300 is still undergoing flight tests. Those flights may be tracked with call sign filter “BBA”.
