Mitsubishi’s Second Test Aircraft Takes Flight

The second of Mitsubishi’s regional jet test aircraft (MRJ), known as airframe FTA-2, took off from Nagoya for the first time on May 31 and confirmed its basic characteristics and functionality in airspace off the Pacific coast of Japan.

“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 Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation president Hiromichi Morimoto. “After this, we will move ahead smoothly with development of the subsequent flight test aircraft, and make our utmost efforts toward type certificate acquisition and the first delivery.”

The Japanese aircraft builder plans to establish its main flight test base this summer at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. Mitsubishi now expects first delivery of the MRJ by mid-2018, some four years later than was originally planned.