Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) conducted the first flight of the second flight test aircraft (FTA-2) of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) on May 31.
FTA-2 took off from Nagoya Airport, Japan and confirmed its basic characteristics and functionality in airspace off the Japanese Pacific coast. FTA-2 will carry out flight tests primarily to continue confirmation of the MRJ’s flight performance.
“As with the first flight conducted with MRJ’s FTA-1 in November of last year, we had a quiet, smooth first flight with FTA-2,” said Hiromichi Morimoto, president, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation. “After this, we will move ahead smoothly with development of the subsequent flight test aircraft, and make our utmost efforts towards type certificate acquisition and the first delivery.”
Mitsubishi Aircraft and MHI are scheduled to establish their main base for flight testing this summer at Grant County International Airport at Moses Lake in Washington State, USA. The company would like to accelerate the flight test development of the MRJ, with the objective of making first deliveries in mid-2018.
