FLIGHT TESTING
AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM // SHOWCASE 2020 17
Meanwhile, final 777X “gauntlet tests,”
including factory systems-integration trials
and runway taxy tests have been
completed. Production of a number of
777-200LR-based 777F cargo variants is
keeping assembly lines open. Boeing also
has re-scheduled the shorter-bodied,
longer-range 777-8 program that had been
planned to enter service in mid-2021.
COMAC
Launched in 2008 to build what became
the single-aisle C919 twinjet, Commercial
Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac)
inherited the Aviation Industry
Corporation of China ARJ21 regional jet.
Comac has a joint venture with Russia’s
United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) to
develop the 280-passenger, 12,000km-range
(7,450 miles), CR929 twin-aisle twinjet.
COMAC ARJ21-700
Increased production in 2018 brought
Comac’s ARJ21-700 regional-jet fleet to 15
aircraft with delivery of one to Chengdu
Airlines. The Chinese manufacturer is
planning a redesigned flight deck,
expected to include a more practical layout
of buttons, displays, instruments, and
switches, that reportedly has been
successfully tested on the ARJ21 flight
simulator. The move has coincided with
orders covering around 100 from three
Chinese operators last August for delivery
during 2020-24. The aircraft sports
General Electric CF34-10 engines and
United Technologies avionics.
COMAC C919
Third prototype C919 MSN103, which first
flew in December 2018, was flown from
the Shanghai factory to Xi’an flight-test
center in central China in July for
modifications before a new round of
flight tests, beginning with flutter and
airspeed calibration.
Comac’s first prototype, MSN101,
continues its flight-test campaign at Xi’an
while MSN102 undergoes flight testing in
Shandong Province. Comac planned to fly
an additional three C919 prototypes –
MSNs 104-106 – during 2019. The company
has scheduled 4,200 FH for completion of
more than 700 test items ahead of Civil
Aviation Administration of China
certification in 2021.
COMAC C929
Comac and United Aircraft Corporation’s
(UAC) China-Russia Commercial Aircraft
International Corporation (CRAIC) is
developing the CR929 twin-aisle twin-jet,
comprising the initial CR929-600, and
planned -500 and -700 shortened and
stretched variants. Russian engine-maker
Aviadvigatel is promoting its
77,000lb-thrust PD-35 engine to power the
CR929, alongside proposals from six other
manufacturers. United Aircraft met
General Electric and Rolls-Royce at the 2019
Moscow Airshow and CRAIC expects to
name initial systems suppliers later
in 2020.
Construction is set to start in 2021, and
the first flight is scheduled for 2023 – two
years ahead of EIS. The aircraft is expected
to feature “more-electric” systems and to
share the cockpit design of the C919.
8 9
7
7 // The final body join of
777X flight test aircraft No. 1
was conducted by Boeing
engineers at the end of 2018
8 // The C919 at Shanghai
Pudong airport during flight
testing (Photo: Shimin Gu)
9 // Comac’s ARJ21 is a
twin-engined regional jet
that has recently been tested
with a redesigned flight deck
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM