Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney have begun collaborating on a data-management service as part of the Aircraft Health Management System (AHMS) for the CSeries narrowbody, Bombardier vice president for customer service Todd Young revealed Tuesday at the Regional Airline Association convention in Cleveland.

Using real-time and recorded data from the aircraft, the AHMS will allow for remote troubleshooting and diagnostics for use by maintenance and flight crews, explained Young.

“Traditionally, when aircraft arrive at the gates, maintenance technicians download parameters with a laptop, which takes a lot of time,” he said. “With the AHMS system, we can instantaneously transmit that information through a cell or Wi-Fi network, and do it on multiple airplanes at the same time.”

Under the agreement, Pratt’s eFAST system will serve as the infrastructure unit used to perform data transmissions from the CSeries’ on-board health management unit (HMU) to the ground. The system encompasses the data-acquisition structure that automatically downloads, processes and stores data for upload to respective customer portals.

Separately at RAA, Bombardier revealed in a video recorded last Friday by CSeries vice president Rob Dewar that the airplane’s various flight-test articles have now flown some 1,600 hours, including 100 hours by the CS300, which flew for the first time this past February.

Dewar reported that the first flight-test vehicle, FTV1, just completed testing with artificial ice shapes and FTV2 completed testing in natural icing conditions during high-altitude operations in Colorado. Meanwhile, FTV3 continues avionics trials, including tests on the autopilot and FMS. FTV4 has finished cruise performance testing and now is in the midst of runway performance. Finally, FTV5—the airplane fitted with a cabin interior—has finished handling and electromagnetic interference tests.