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The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets developed by Canadair after a Bill Lear concept, and then produced from 1986 by its new owner, Bombardier Aerospace.
<!--Development-->
At the end of 1975, Canadair began funding the development of LearStar 600, and then bought the design for a wide-cabin business jet in April 1976.<!--ref name=Upton2007--><!--ref name=Flight12aug1978-->
On 29 October, the programme was launched, backed by the Canadian federal government, and designed to comply with new FAR part 25 standards.<!--ref name=Upton2007-->
In March 1977, it was renamed the Challenger 600 after Bill Lear was phased out, and the original conventional tail was changed for a T-tail among other developments.<!--ref name=Upton2007-->
The first prototype was rolled out on 25 May 1978, and performed its maiden flight on 8 November.<!--ref name=Upton2007-->
The flight test program saw a deadly crash on 3 April 1980, but Transport Canada approved the CL-600 type certification on 10 August 1980.
In 1986, Canadair was close to bankruptcy and was bought by Bombardier.<!--ref name=Flight25Nov2018-->
The jet was later stretched into the Bombardier CRJ regional airliner, introduced on 19 October 1992, and the longer range Global Express, introduced in July 1999.
The 500th Challenger was rolled out in May 2000,<!--ref name=Flight10oct2018/--> and the 1000th was delivered to NetJets in December 2015.
By October 2018, 1,066 aircraft had been built.<!--ref name=Flight12oct2018/-->
<!--design-->
The Challenger is a low-wing jet powered by two turbofans mounted in aft fuselage pods, with a supercritical wing and a stand-up cabin with two seating sections.
<!--Variants-->
The original Lycoming ALF 502 turbofans were replaced by a pair of General Electric CF34s on the CL-601, which also gained winglets, and first flew on 10 April 1982.<!--ref name=Flight29May1982-->
Subsequent variants have updated systems, avionics, and higher weights.
Development
Origins
thumb|Initial LearStar 600 concept, with conventional tail
Around 1974, American aviation inventor Bill Lear conceptualised the LearStar 600, a low-wing, long-distance business jet, which was powered by a pair of Garrett TFE731-1 geared turbofan engines and equipped with a supercritical wing. Lear lacked the capabilities to launch such an aircraft, thus sought out other agencies to collaborate with to both produce and sell it, including the Canadian aerospace manufacturer Canadair. According to authors Ron Picklet and Larry Milberry, Canadair's top management were of the opinion that Lear's concept was sketchy at best. Lear did not have an expert grasp of aeronautical engineering;<!----> so far, he had only been able to pay an American aeronautical consultant to undertake very preliminary design explorations.
Following a study, contrasting the proposed Learstar against rivals such as the Lockheed Jetstar, Dassault Falcon 50, and Grumman Gulfstream II, Canadair decided to give its backing to the idea near the end of 1975. At the time of these events, Chrétien was successively president of the Treasury Board, minister of Industry, Trade, and Commerce, and minister of Finance, in the Canadian government. Due to the use of letters of comfort, the extent of the ministry's financial commitments for Canadair could be kept from parliament and the public for several years. These financial guarantees were later used as an academic example of insufficient monitoring and lax controls in government support of industry.
In April 1976, Canadair acquired the LearStar 600 concept. By then it was long, and wide, and capable of a maximum speed of Mach 0.85 and a range of . As an executive jet, it had sufficient capacity for 14 passengers. In a freighter configuration, it had a 3,400 kg (7,500 lb) payload capacity, loaded and unloaded through a forward door. As a commuter airliner, it could seat up to 30 passengers in a 2–1 seating configuration.]]
On 8 November 1978, the prototype aircraft took off for its maiden flight from Montreal, Quebec. The flight test and certification program were conducted at Mojave Kern County Airport instead of Canada due to better weather.
The CL-600-1A11 type certification was approved by Transport Canada in August 1980, and by the US Federal Aviation Administration in November 1980.
The program cost was C$1.5 billion (US$ billion at the time).
Further development
In 1980, the first production model of the Challenger series, the CL-600, entered service with end customers. According to Flight International, the decision to adopt the CF34 engine for the new model was responsible for generating a substantial boom in Challenger sales. Bombardier elected not only to continue production of the type, but also to finance the development of new models and derivatives. This choice was aided by Canadair's design decision to enable the Challenger to be readily stretched from the onset. The 1000th, a 650, was delivered to NetJets in December 2015.
According to Flight International, the Challenger 600 has been a foothold in the market for Bombardier, allowing them to more easily develop further business jets, such as the Bombardier Global Express. Another direct derivative of the Challenger series has been the Bombardier CRJ100 series, a larger regional airliner. The publication commented that the Challenger family "appears to have a solid future", observing a production rate of two aircraft per month throughout 2018. A further seven airframes have been procured from 1982 to 2020. Models CL-600, CL-601, CL-604, and CL-650 have all been procured to fill the role.
;Canadair CE-144: Three electronic warfare (EW) trainers were converted to/from basic CC-144.
;Canadair CX-144: Second prototype, a CL-600-1A11, c/n 1002, was allocated to the RCAF after finishing its test programme. Used at the Aerospace Engineering and Test Establishment (AETE), CFB Cold Lake until retirement in 1993, it is now preserved at the CFB Winnipeg, designated CC-144 in service.
Challenger 601-1A (CL-600-2A12)
; CL-601-1A: A refined version with winglets to decrease drag and more powerful General Electric CF34-1A turbofans (66 built, including six Canadian Forces CC-144Bs)
; CL-601-1A/ER: 601-1A with additional fuel tank in the tail
Challenger 601-3A/3R (CL-600-2B16)
thumb|The 601 flight deck has a glass cockpit with small [[primary flight displays.]]
;CL-601-3A: Equipped with General Electric CF34-3A turbofans with a higher flat rating and a glass cockpit. First version marketed by Bombardier.
;CL-601-3A/ER: 601-3A with additional fuel tank in the tail
;CL-601-3R: Equipped with General Electric CF34-3A1 turbofans, tail tank made standard
Challenger 604/605/650
thumb|The 604 flight deck has the Pro Line 4 avionics system with larger screens.
;: Equipped with General Electric CF34-3B turbofans, added saddle tanks for increased fuel capacity, new undercarriage for higher takeoff and landing weight; structural improvements to wings and tail, new Rockwell Collins Pro Line 4 avionics system
;CL-604 MMA: (Multi-Mission Aircraft), militarized version, developed by Field Aviation, in Danish service.
Built from 1996 through 2006, over 360 were delivered. Early ones were selling for $4.0–$4.5 million and late models for less than $8 million in 2016.<!--
thumb|The 605 flight deck has the Pro Line 21 avionics system with [[electronic flight bag capability and even larger screens.]]
;CL-605: Following a first flight in January 2006, the Challenger 605 was certified and introduced in early 2006. Compared to the Challenger 604, the airframe was updated with larger cabin windows and a new tail cone, and the flight deck was updated with the Collins Pro Line 21 system with electronic flight bag capability. The 200th Challenger 605 entered service in October 2012.
;CL-605 MSA: A maritime patrol aircraft design under development by Boeing. Boeing has proposed a repackaging of some of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon sensors but not weapons into a less expensive airframe, the Bombardier Challenger 605 business jet. This aircraft is named Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (MSA) and has been depicted with the AN/APY-10 radar, an electro-optical sensor in a retractable turret, and a magnetic anomaly detector. In February 2014, a MSA demonstrator, which is a modified CL-604, made its first flight. The final aircraft will use the CL-605 airframe. The demonstrator currently has the external shapes for the sensors and communications systems which will be added later. The final MSA is expected to cost $55 million to $60 million per aircraft.
The 605 and 650 improve the avionics and cabin, but their performance figures are similar to the 604. Compared to the Challenger 605, it has a redesigned interior cabin, Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 Advanced avionics, similar to the Challenger 350, Synthetic vision system (SVS) and a 5% increase in takeoff thrust. In 2023, its equipped price was $33M.
Operators
The 500th unit was rolled out in May 2000.
The 1000th, a 650, was delivered to NetJets in December 2015.
Including the Challenger 300 and Challenger 850, the 1,600 Bombardier Challengers in-service had logged 7.3 million hours and over 4.3 million flights by early 2017.
As of December 2017, close to 1,100 Challenger 600 Series have been delivered.
By October 2018, the global Challenger fleet amounted to 997: of these, 611 were based in North America, 151 in Europe, 93 in Latin America, 78 in Asia-Pacific, 37 in Africa and 23 in Middle East.
Military and government operators
thumb|[[Royal Danish Air Force welcomed by a Russian Army Orchestra]]
Civilian operators
thumb|[[Medical evacuation after the 2011 Tōhoku disaster by Rega]]
thumb|[[Qatar Executive]]
thumb|[[Zepter International]]
thumb|[[Wichita Airport 2000 crash remains]]
Incidents and accidents
By May 2019, the Challenger fleet suffered 18 hull loss accidents, causing 39 fatalities.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Date !! Location
!Variant!! !! !! Notes
|-
| || United States, Kansas, Wichita Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604|| 3 || 0 || Test flight, impact with terrain during initial climb and post impact fire
|-
|2002-01-04
|United Kingdom, Birmingham International Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604
|5
|0
|Rolled rapidly on takeoff and caught fire
|-
| 2004-11-28 || United States, Colorado, Montrose Airport
|CL-600-2A12|| 3 || 3 || Crashed during an attempted takeoff due to icing on airframe. Longtime NBC television executive and former Saturday Night Live executive producer Dick Ebersol and his son, entrepreneur and filmmaker Charlie Ebersol, were two of the survivors
|-
|2005-11-11
|United Kingdom, London Heathrow
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604
|0
|5
|Autopilot pitch trim failed and stabiliser trim system failed due to electrical shorting, caused by fault in the design of the Horizontal Stabiliser Trim Control Unit
|-
| 2014-01-05 || United States, Colorado, Aspen Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 601-3R|| 1 || 2 || Pilot error crash after tailwind landing in low-level windshear and gust conditions after a go-around.
|-
| 2017-01-07 || Oman, above Muscat
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604|| 0 || 9 || 9,000 ft altitude loss after passing through the wake turbulence from an Airbus A380, written off due to damage after emergency landing
|-
| 2018-03-11 || Iran, Zagros Mountains
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604|| 11 || 0 || Crashed after a partial instrument failure, leading to a loss of control
|-
| 2019-05-05 || Mexico, Coahuila
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 601-3A|| 13 || 0 || Crashed on its return from Las Vegas, Nevada
|-
| 2021-07-26 || United States, California, Truckee Tahoe
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 605|| 6 || 0 || Crashed on approach
|-
|2022-01-31
|United Kingdom, London Stansted Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604
|0
|6
|During a crosswind, plane made a hard landing, left wingtip hit the runway several times. The nose landing gear failed when the stick pusher activated. There were no injuries.
|-
|2022-12-30
|Mexico, near Venado, San Luis Potosí
|CL-600S Challenger 600
|2
|0
|Aircraft lost after experiencing uncontrolled descent during positioning flight and "apparently disintegrated"
|-
|2024-02-09 || United States, Florida, near Naples Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604|| 2 || 3 ||Experienced dual engine failure short of the runway; the pilots attempted to land on Interstate 75, the aircraft was destroyed and consumed by a post-crash fire.
|-
|2026-01-25
|United States, Maine, Bangor International Airport
|CL-600-2B16 Challenger 650
|6
|0
|Crashed during takeoff
|}
Specifications (Challenger 650)
thumb|Side view
thumb|Planform view
See also
thumb|Side by side with a [[Falcon 2000]]