Bombardier Smart Link Plus: Next-Gen Digital Diagnostics Goes Fleetwide

Bombardier’s Global 7500 has set new standards for business jet performance—standards defined not simply by record-setting range, cabin space, and short-field capability but by operational efficiency. That efficiency is made possible in part by a next-generation digital diagnostics system: Smart Link Plus. Now, that transformative aircraft health monitoring and management system has been approved for installation under an STC covering almost all in-service Global and Challenger aircraft.

“It’s changing the game in the way we can support our customers in the field,” said Elza Brunelle-Yeung, Bombardier’s senior director for Aftermarket Products and Services.

Smart Link Plus collects and distributes crucial aircraft data in real time—some 12,000 parameters—allowing flight and maintenance crews to quickly prioritize and proactively troubleshoot essential in-flight alerts, identify their root causes, and make quicker, better decisions in response.

“That's a big shift,” Brunelle-Yeung said of the new paradigm. “You troubleshoot completely differently than you did with the time-consuming manual fault-tracking method.

“We’ve entered what we call the Fourth Industrial Revolution—the Internet of Things,” she continued. “You've seen it in your daily life, be it in your home or car, or on your watch. Everything is part of that connected world, and that’s what Smart Link Plus is. We're bringing that technology to business aviation.”

In two years of operation, Smart Link Plus has had a dramatic impact across the Global 7500 fleet, increasing aircraft availability, enhancing operations, and helping operators avoid and avert AOGs.

“It has become the number-one troubleshooting tool our Customer Response Center uses,” Brunelle-Yeung said at the Montreal facility, nerve center for Bombardier’s global customer care.

With Smart Link Plus, should a system message or fault appear on the flight deck, “the ground crew is able to see it at the same time, and efficiently and quickly understand the cause of any message or issue seen in the cockpit,” she said.

A proprietary Bombardier application, myMaintenance, introduced in tandem with Smart Link Plus, provides data to team members with immediately understandable visual formats, putting “access to insights at their fingertips,” she said. With necessary information shared in real time, a tech team can be ready to meet the aircraft at its destination if needed.

In addition to enhancing aircraft operational efficiency, Smart Link Plus reduces crew workload in flight and on the ground, Brunelle-Yeung said. “The automatic and wireless data transfer and insights result in less manual work that the crew needs to do—for example, in the case of an alert, after landing, the pilot doesn’t have to send emails or text messages or screenshots they took with their phone while flying.”

In April, the Smart Link Plus connected aircraft system achieved certification from Transport Canada, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and the Federal Aviation Administration for installation on in-service Challenger 300, 350, 3500, 605, and 650, as well as the Global 5000 and 6000, Global Express, and Global XRS.

“This will allow a company or individual operating almost any Challenger or Global aircraft to be able to make the same quick, data-driven decisions our Global 7500 operators enjoy, saving them time and money, and making sure their aircraft is up and flying when they want it to be,” Brunelle-Yeung said.

Smart Link Plus is just one component of Bombardier’s “connected aircraft” concept and strategy, a digital ecosystem that supports the airframer’s and authorized third-parties’ applications, and it also reflects the company’s broader effort to enhance the aircraft ownership experience on every level.

“It speaks to our commitment to provide the best service experience, the best digital experience, and the best customer experience in the entire industry,” Brunelle-Yeung said.

All in-production Bombardier aircraft will be equipped with Smart Link Plus. For in-service aircraft, an aftermarket Smart Link Plus box installation “taps into precious information that's already being generated” by the aircraft systems, Brunelle-Yeung noted. The unit, provided by GE, connects directly to the aircraft’s data concentrators, which feed operational metrics from flight and power systems and the cabin into the avionics, which eliminates any need to link individual systems or install additional wiring.

Smart Link Plus is a subscription-based service. Operators can enroll in it annually, and two years after its introduction, more than 95 percent of Global 7500 operators subscribe to it.

Bombardier is providing Smart Link Plus units at no cost to owners of in-service Challengers and Globals, to encourage and simplify aircraft retrofits. The only expense is the cost of installation, which technicians at any authorized Bombardier service facility can perform in conjunction with scheduled maintenance. 

Going forward, Bombardier plans continuing enhancements to the service and its capabilities. Aboard the Global 7500, Smart Link Plus collects and sends performance data from the aircraft’s purpose-built GE Passport engines to GE for analysis of on-wing performance, and Bombardier is working to extend such information sharing to the manufacturers of engines powering its other models, Brunelle-Yeung said.

Peering into the not-too-distant future, Bombardier foresees even bigger advances in diagnostic capabilities for the system. “Eventually, we will be able to predict and repair or replace components before problems even occur,” Brunelle-Yeung said. “We will be able to make decisions based on the status of the aircraft and what it's telling us, instead of just going by the book.”

That predictive capability paves the way for Smart Link Plus-equipped aircraft to transition to next-gen maintenance plans, when they are approved. “The FAA recently announced it was going to allow some on-condition maintenance,” Brunelle-Yeung said. “Everyone in the industry is trying to find a way to get there, and I’m happy to say the Smart Link Plus program is absolutely headed in that direction.”

But the exciting news, she stressed, is that Bombardier owners and operators can take advantage of Smart Link Plus’s advanced aircraft health monitoring and management capabilities today. After witnessing for themselves how it can enhance the ownership experience, the Bombardier aftermarket service team is eager to see as many customers as possible embrace—and install—the technology.

“Our goal is to bring our customers the latest digital tools in one convenient place, connecting the dots so that their lives are a lot easier,” Brunelle-Yeung said. “Smart Link Plus does exactly that.”