This one's taking off! Are you in?

Walt has a longstanding interest in commercial aviation. The first "big airplane" I flew in was a BOAC Super Constellation, which really dates me. Since then I've flown in some excellent aircraft, including the the DC-8 ("Old Smoky") and the Lockheed L-1011, beloved of those who flew them but not by the beancounters flying desks at the world's airlines.

Here's a new passenger jetliner, coming soon to an airline and/or airport near you.

She's the Bombardier CS100, which took to the skies at YMX yesterday morning, after nearly 9 months of delays to make sure everything was just right for the maiden flight. And so it was.

The CSeries is the first larg(ish) jetliner to be manufactured by Bombardier, heretofore known for executive and regional jets as well as smooth and quiet turboprops. [Don't forget about the Skidoos! Ed.] The CS100 is a bigger plane, capable of taking 110 to 145 pax clear across the continent with no stops.

With the new "big airplane", Bombardier will be competing with the smaller ends of the Airbus and Boeing product lines, but yesterday's flight suggests the CSeries has a Unique Selling Proposition. (A doff of the adman's hat to the late Rosser Reeves.) The new plane is super-quiet, roughly 15 decibels quieter than a B737, or only roughly as loud as Bombardier’s Q400s turboprops.

That should silence the NIMBY types who want to keep jets out of smaller downtown airports like YTZ and the new airport which London Mayor Boris Johnson proposes to locate in the middle of the Thames. Bombardier already has orders for 177 of the aircraft, but is on track to sell 300 by the time it enters service, in about 12 months.

Bombardier has said it aims to capture half of the 6,900 deliveries expected in the 100-to-149-seat segment of the commercial aircraft market over the next two decades. With the airline industry making a slow but steady recovery, I think the CSeries could be very profitable for Bombardier. The company's shares are trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at around $5. I'm in!