China-made regional aircraft ARJ21 to take maiden flight

Recently, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. held a handover ceremony of ARJ21-700101 airplane in the assembly plant of Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory. This means that regional aircraft with independent intellectual property rights has entered the final stage of its maiden flight preparation. Experts predict that in one or two months, ARJ21 will be able to complete the first flight.

There are five ARJ21-700 aircraft, among which three to be used for test flight, one for net force test, and one for fatigue test before the test flight.

ARJ21-700 has 78 to 90 seats, and the design flying range is 1,200 to 2,000 sea miles. It is able to provide direct flight services for more than 98% of the domestic lines and meet requirements of complex terrain and the plateau environment of China's western areas.

In fact, last December, ARJ21-700 aircraft has announced it's off the assembly line. According to the original plan ARJ21 aircraft can take maiden flight in March this year, but because key system providers failed to provide test conditions by then, the maiden flight has been delayed. In the previous plan, in September 2009 the first ARJ21 aircraft will be delivered to the first user Shandong Airlines, and in 2009 after been officially approved, ARJ21 will enter mass production stage. But now, it seems Shandong Airlines will have to wait for another six months to use the first ARJ21 aircraft.

Picture shows China's first regional aircraft with independent intellectual property rights ARJ21-700.

By People's Daily Online