The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets. It was first produced by Canadair as an independent company and then produced in 1986 by Canadair as a division of Bombardier Aerospace.
The origin of the Challenger 600 lies in Canadair’s purchase of a concept for a business jet aircraft, the Lear Star 600, from the American inventor and aircraft developer Bill Lear. However, Lear had practically no influence on the subsequent development and design of the aircraft. Even the name Lear Star was not new to this concept since Lear had long before used the name for his conversion of Lockheed Lodestars into business transports. Thus, Canadair quickly abandoned the name Lear Star and adopted the name Challenger.
Introduced in early 2006 as an avionics and structural upgrade of the 604 designs. Structural improvements include more oversized cabin windows. Cockpit instrumentation updated with the Collins Proline 21 avionics and “electronic flight bag” capability. It can be visually identified by a new, rounded tailcone.
