Bombardier CL-600 Challenger

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: Bombardier. Model: CL-600. Nickname: Challenger
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Business Jet
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane Multi-engine Land
> Engine Description: Twin Jet

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 9/2/2021
> Number of Hours Flown: 3
> Number of Times Flown: 1
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: none

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 124
> Date First Flown: 5/23/2002
> Location First Flown: St Louis Downtown Airport, MO (KCPS)
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: Don’t remember, don’t WANT to remember. 🙂

Recollections: I have (so far) only flown the CL-600 once.  But, I’ve never done a takeoff or landing in one…let me explain.

The purpose of the flight was to certify a Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS).  The “applicant” was a company located in the St Louis area, but the test aircraft was a privately-owned airplane that had come from somewhere else (owners who allow their airplanes to be put into “experimental show compliance” airworthiness category presumably get a cut on the cost of the installed system).  TAWS testing involves a few tests conducted near an airport and then multiple runs on a surveyed ridge/mountain to trip off the terrain warnings in a predictable manner.  We were operating out of the “St Louis Downtown” airport, KCPS, located southeast of the main airport in St Louis, Lambert Field, KSTL (see chart in the figures).  Our “target mountain” was located about 30 minutes south of St Louis, in Arkansas.  Owing to the maneuvers that were planned and the fact that the weather was very good, the flight was planned to be conducted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR).  Well, the operator of the airplane “required” that–to do the takeoff or landing–that I be type-rated in the airplane.  Never flown one and, of course, I wasn’t rated.  This “requirement”, by the way, was the owner’s own policy and/or their insurance company policy…NOT any real regulatory requirement.  I was very new to the FAA and had not encountered this situation before so, I begrudgingly agreed to wait until we were on our way to the test area and then I’d get in to do the “runs on the mountain”.

So, after takeoff and departure from the STL area, I got in the left seat, did the tests over the next 2+ hours.  Heading back to St Louis I got out of the seat and sat in the (very nice) VIP-interior cabin.

After landing, we headed back into a conference room to debrief.  Walking in, the airplane’s Pilot in Command handed me his cell phone, mumbling something about the FAA.  Well, on the other end of the line was a very angry FAA Air Traffic Control (ATC) controller from St Louis TRACON.  Turns out the airplane had been flown VFR without authorization right into the STL Class B airspace, right thru the final approach corridor to nearby Lambert Field.  I guess the PIC thought, because I was FAA, that he had a “get out of jail free” card with ATC.  I paused momentarily to consider letting this crew just get hammered by ATC.  Frankly, they deserved to get hammered…after not letting me fly and then expecting me–without exlanation–to fix their screw-up.  However, I decided to handle this with the controller…explaining the purpose of the flight (clearly noting that I was NOT IN THE SEAT during the infraction!!), that the pilots weren’t familiar with the area, that they were operating VFR (not very usual for most Bizjet operators), and that I would sternly debrief them.  This placated the controller and we hung up the phone.  I could tell by the pilots sheepish behavior that they knew they’d really messed up (starting with not letting me in the seat), we agreed that an IFR departure and recovery would’ve been smarter and we proceeded to debrief the flight.

So, while this flight isn’t remembered for the flying qualities of the Challenger, it was a good lesson in FAA Flight Test processes and authority.  By the way, after that, my response to “you have to be type rated (to do something in a test airplane)” was (essentially and politely) “No I don’t.  Let me know when you figure out how to get me in the seat and I’ll be back.”