Thirty days after heading in for upgrades, Intelsat‘s CRJ 700 returned to the skies on Sunday with the production ready-version of the Stellar Blu Sidewinder terminal installed. This test flight included the production version of the BAE Systems ESA panels (formerly Ball Aerospace) as well as production models of both the GEO (Intelsat) and LEO (OneWeb) modems.
The test flight is part of the Supplemental Type Certification process and should allow the company to formally transition the aircraft from an experimental designation with the FAA to a normal operating certificate. It is also the template for installation of the production hardware on the more than 750 aircraft in Intelsat’s backlog, though most will require a different STC to be developed.
Intelsat’s Dave Bijur previously expected the certification process to begin in mid-February. Some hardware testing slipped into mid-March, delaying that process. Once that completed, however, the companies were able to follow the normal 30-day timeline to meet the STC timeline.
From here an additional STC must be developed to support the Embraer E175 family of aircraft. That is the first type expected to have the hardware installed and activated for an airline, with Alaska Airlines as the launch customer. Bijur suggested in February that the Alaska planes were on target for May 2024 installation and activation. That shifted to “May/June” as of mid-March, but that should be a reasonable target with this milestone realized.
Installs for Air Canada and American Airlines will follow. Additional STCs will also follow for other aircraft types, including mainline planes at Aerolineas Argentinas.
The test flight initially operated at 15,000 feet for about an hour before climbing to 26,000 feet then eventually to 35,000 feet. The three hour test offered the opportunity to validate the terminal performance, as well as to ensure the installation is secure on the airframe.
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