More proof that General Aviation is booming worldwide – three new aircraft had first flights last month. Canada’s Bombardier had the first flight of its Challenger 605 widebody bizjet at Montreal-Trudeau Airport on 22 January.

On 7 January, a relatively unknown company, Spectrum Aeronautical, had the first flight of its all-new Spectrum 33 twinjet. On 23 January, Socata coincided the first flight of its new TBM 850 with achieving FAA type certification.

Pilots Christian Briand and Alain Arnaud had a flight of almost three hours, running tests across the TBM’s flight envelope including high speed descents at Vne. It took six weeks for FAA certification.