Winging It - The Making of the Canadair Challenger

by Stuart Logie, Wolf Schell (Illustrator)

In 1976 a relatively unknown Canadian military aerospace company with a line of credit and an uncertain future announced it would build the Challenger, the fastest, longest-range, most sophisticated and advanced business jet the world had ever seen in the shortest possible time at the lowest possible cost. In the cut-throat, high-stakes aerospace business, naysayers said it couldn't be done. And it nearly didn't happen. This is the inside story of how corporate infighting, regulatory stubbornness, lying suppliers, public cynicism, the worst recession in memory, fickle customers, a dead test pilot, a maniacal genius, ruthless competitors, a multibillion-dollar debt, angry bureaucrats, investigative journalists, shady Arab traders and plain bad luck nearly destroyed the program. It's also the story of how two men--Harry Halton and Fred Kearns--fought daily battles to prevent all these negative events from ultimately killing the biggest gamble in the history of Canadian aviation. The Challenger family of products gave rise to an internationally successful aerospace program (that includes the Regional Jet and now the C-Series) with a secure place in the top ranks of the global aerospace market. But how it got there is quite a story.

Genres: Aviation

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2013