Aircraft
Learjet 85 has deep European roots
Bombardier’s all-composite Learjet 85 is progressing toward a first flight in 2012 with heavy engineering and manufacturing input from the company’s facil

Bombardier’s all-composite Learjet 85 is progressing toward a first flight in 2012 with heavy engineering and manufacturing input from the company’s facilities at Belfast in Northern Ireland and Manchester in the northwest of England. Early this year, program director Ralph Acs reported that 80 percent of the detailed design drawings had been released for structure and systems installation with the goal of completing them this spring. According to manufacturer, the eight-passenger, 3,000-nm-range aircraft remains on schedule for certification in 2013.

“In Manchester, we pulled [an engineering team] together from the European Community,” explained Acs. It consists of 120 engineers making ply-by-ply drawings that can be sent electronically directly to Bombardier’s composite factory in Mexico.

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