Program update
“Our aim of broadening our
business profile with finished
aircraft remains unchanged”
MitAC plans three models: an MRJ-based basic M90
variant, an M100 version to meet scope-clause conditions
and a future, larger M200 (see box: Mitsubishi SpaceJet
variants). The manufacturer says the design sets “a new
standard in the regional-jet segment”, where it sees
positive demand.
Over the coming 20 years Mitsubishi sees
requirements for 5,137 regional jets up to 100 seats. This
market will include “strong and stable demand for as
many as an average of 200 per year” replacement aircraft,
or some 4,000 units overall – 80% of the total.
MitAC predicts 2,027 (39%) will be needed in North
America, with Europe as the next largest geographic
region: 740 (14%), followed closely by Asia/Pacific (except
Japan) 663 units (13%) and China 633 (12%), with MitAC’s
home market in Japan seen as needing just 62 (1%). Other
forecast markets are: Latin America 352 aircraft (7%),
Africa 287 (6%), Commonwealth of Independent States
238 (5%), and Middle East 135 (3%).
FLIGHT-TEST REVIEW
Under its global-organization strategy,
Mitsubishi Aircraft (MitAC) has established
its own flight-test capacity. “We have
teams Nagoya (Tokyo), Seattle and Moses
Lake in Washington state that support
the program, but our flight-test division is
predominantly based at Moses Lake,”
it says.
The Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau
(JCAB) and US Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) have “performed
multiple familiarization flights”. On-site
JCAB officials are “closely tied into
activities” at the Moses Lake flight-test
centre (MFC), where flight-test and
certification work is supported by Seattlebased
consultancy AeroTEC.
The initial four MRJs at Moses Lake have
been modified to latest specifications
to meet certification requirements and
“continue to increase the pace of
TC testing, which began last March”,
alongside other company flight-testing,
says MitAC. The duties of the Flight Test
Vehicles (FTV) are below.
FTV1: Brake-control unit and stability
and control testing. Modification to type
certification (TC) configuration: fuel system
and ground-vibration testing and JCAB
familiarization flights.
FTV2: Modification to TC configuration:
free-play and flutter testing; stability and
control and flight-controls testing.
FTV3: Avionics testing; stability and
control, and cross-wind testing; FAA
familiarisation flights; modification to
TC configuration.
FTV4: Rotor-lock, engine auxiliary-power
unit, and extreme-cold testing at Eglin AFB
for TC; dry-air and hot-fuel testing for TC;
cooling and ventilation, natural-icing, and
water-ingestion testing.
FTV5: Ground testing at Nagoya.
FTV6: Unknown.
FTV7 MSN10007: MitAC continues
structural assembly of the first series
production example for All Nippon
Airways; FTV7 is expected to be used for
functional and reliability flights, operational
evaluation, and customer work.
FTV8 and FTV9 MSN10008 and
MSN10009: These designations are to be
used for future SpaceJets.
90 MARCH 2020 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
FTV10 MSN10010: In January, this latest
test specimen joined the test fleet and
entered ground tests in Nagoya after
delivery from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
(MHI) which builds the airframes. First
flight is expected later this year. Shortly
after FTV10 will fly to Moses Lake to join
M90 type-certification testing at MFC that
will include avionics configuration.
MHI Aero Engines Ltd (MHIAEL)
completed its first two shipments of
Japanese-assembled Pratt & Whitney
PW1217G-JM geared-turbofan engines
to MFC four months ago. Approval of
MHIAEL’s assembly line will mark the first
such airliner jet-engine facility in Japan.
MHIAEL PW1217G-JM assembly began
three years ago and delivery of the
initial pair followed test-cell approval
and subsequent testing, analysis, and
verification. After receiving FAA clearance,
Komaki will start production.
MitAC declines to discuss test-aircraft
utilisation, noting only that the test fleet
has flown more than 3,500 hours by
early 2020. “In general, we don’t provide
specifics regarding timing or results of our
testing,” it says.
rearrange underfloor avionics and wiring, an area which
had stimulated the previous program delay. That fifth
hold-up had arisen from the discovery that the avionics
cable-routing design would not meet US federal
airworthiness regulations. As initially designed, the MRJ
would also not have met the conditions of US airlinepilot
agreements – so-called “scope-clause” deals that
specify weight and seat-count limits for aircraft that
may be operated by large carriers’ smaller partner
operators. The manufacturer had expected the limits to
be relaxed, but when that did not happen it set about
developing and re-branding the machine to fit into the
rules, while still being able to address the global market
with alternate models.
Subsequently at last June’s Paris Air Show, Mitsubishi
revealed the SpaceJet as a re-working of the basic MRJ
design and introduced the SpaceJet M100 as the “only
clean-sheet regional-aircraft in its category that meets
scope-clause requirements.”
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM