On October 16, Bombardier presented guests of the NBAA-BACE 2023 conference with exclusive photographs of the second testing phase for its EcoJet research project. The flying tests were carried out with a demonstrator that was 5.5 metres wide, and they have provided significant findings, which have contributed to the progression of this essential project.
Through improvements to the aircraft’s aerodynamics, propulsion, and other systems, the EcoJet research project being conducted by Bombardier intends to cut aircraft emissions by up to half. EcoJet is a research and technology effort launched 15 years ago to promote environmental sustainability. A family of Blended Wing Body (BWB) test vehicles has been successfully materialised as a result of this project, and flight tests are currently being carried out to develop and mature relevant technologies. The technical team at Bombardier will be able to perfect its knowledge of new flight control laws by analysing the data acquired from the 18-foot-wide prototype. These new aviation control laws will be adapted to the significantly different geometry of BWB aircraft and will be applied to more environmentally friendly future business aircraft.
Stephen McCullough, the senior vice president of engineering and product development at the company, said that the company’s engineers are excited to begin working with the data generated by the second part of the flight test programme. According to him, the business can improve its analysis by building on the enormous data obtained from the initial flight-testing phase and leveraging a model twice as large as the original prototype. He says that with each successive step of experimentation, the company lays the groundwork for more environmentally friendly aircraft designs and innovative technology.
The company and its academic partners can investigate the behaviour of BWB-designed vehicles while they are flying freely, thanks to flight campaigns on scaled test vehicles. The flight-testing programme will be conducted over several years and consist of various free-flight campaigns. The goal of the programme is to generate data that is progressively precise in real-world settings that are representative of the environment.
The 18-foot-wide prototype of the EcoJet research project being conducted by Bombardier has completed its first flight in 2022 and can fly independently. The Research and Technology team at Bombardier began testing the real-life viability of their theoretical work in 2017 with the first prototype, which had a wingspan of around 8 feet. This was done to improve the design of the final product. While Bombardier establishes the groundwork for more environmentally friendly business jets, the company will use its EcoJet prototypes to continue developing incredible new customer experiences.
