Mitsubishi says MRJ will make first flight by years end

(Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation)

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation detailed the flight test program for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), including revealing that some of the flights will be conducted in the US.
                                                                        
Briefing reporters at the Paris Air Show, company executives said first flight for the MRJ is on track to occur by the end of this year in Japan. The first flight test aircraft’s wing, fuselage and tail are under assembly now. First delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airways, which has 15 MRJs on firm order plus 10 options, is targeted for 2015.

There will be five MRJ flight test aircraft, designated #10001 through #10005. The majority of the flight test program, which will total 2,500 hours in the air, will take place in Japan. But aircraft #10001 and #10004 will conduct some flight testing in the US.

Aircraft #10001 will be focused on testing basic flight characteristics and #10004 will be used for systems and interior tests, natural icing and extreme hot/cold tests and community noise tests. Aircraft #10003 will conduct detailed flight characteristics and avionics tests. Aircraft #10005 will conduct autopilot tests.

The MRJ program got a big boost at last year’s Farnborough Airshow with an order from Utah-based SkyWest Inc. for 100 firm aircraft plus 100 options. The third customer for the aircraft is Missouri-based Trans States Holdings, which has placed a firm order for 50 plus 50 options.

Given that 150 of 165 MRJ firm orders are from US carriers, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. is placing a large emphasis there. This week it opened a “quality cost delivery division” in Chicago to support the MRJ program. The division is tasked with overseeing the 17 MRJ parts suppliers based in the US, including engine provider Pratt & Whitney.

“Lots of the production will be in the US, so monitoring it from the US will be more efficient,” Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. president and COO Teruaki Kawai told reporters at Le Bourget. VP and GM-sales and marketing Toshi Kawachi said, “The US continues to be our most important market.”

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. plans to roll out a new flight test aircraft monthly once first flight is achieved.

(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)