Bombardier CSeries program chief Rob Dewar on Friday reported that the program’s flying test vehicles have spent more than 900 hours in the air, and cited “very solid” progress toward reaching the needed 2,500 flight test hours for certification of the CS100 in the second half of the year.

One of the recent accomplishments involved opening the so-called flutter envelope in flight-test vehicle (FTV) 1 and taking the airplane to a speed of Mach .91, well beyond its normal design capabilities, said Dewar. The second flight-test airplane, FTV2, recently completed an extreme cold-weather test at Bombardier’s headquarters in Mirabel, Canada, where the temperature dropped to -30 degrees C (-19 degrees F). Crews also took the opportunity to gain certification credit for de-icing the airplane.

Systems upgrades continue on FTV3, the airplane based at Bombardier’s flight-test center in Wichita, Kansas. Dewar also reported that the company has completed fuel burn measurements on FTV4—the so-called performance aircraft—and that it will soon share the results with the market. Finally, CS100 FTV5, the first aircraft with a full cabin interior installed, has undergone passenger evacuation testing. Along with the FAA, Transport Canada and EASA officials, one of Bombardier’s “key” customers visited Mirabel to participate in the trials.

Meanwhile, the first CS300 flight-test vehicle continues preparations for first flight, completing engine runs and initial ground runs. It now stands inside Bombardier’s Mirabel hangar undergoing ground vibration tests. In December Bombardier completed all static testing of the CS300 airframe, including the wing bending test. The fatigue test article has now accumulated more than 12,000 flight cycles “without incident,” reported Dewar.

Bombardier has now moved virtually all its employees into the new CSeries production facility in Mirabel, where the second production CS100 undergoes preparation for wing join and final assembly has begun on the second CS300 flight-test vehicle.