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Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation has ferried a second Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) test aircraft from its Nagoya facility to the company’s Moses Lake Flight Test Centre just outside Seattle in Washington State.
The aircraft, designated flight test aircraft 4 (FTA-4), touched down at Grant County International Airport a little after 0645 on November 19, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation said in a statement.
The aircraft was ferried to Grant County from Nagoya via Guam, The Marshall Islands, Honolulu and San Jose. The trip covered 14,000km and took 18 hours and 43 minutes.
FTA-4 joins FTA-1 at Moses Lake, which arrived in late September.
Mitsubishi planned to have four test aircraft at its Moses Lake facility as part of efforts to receive certification of the MRJ from US regulators.
The MRJ, with its distinctive pointed nose, competes with Bombardier’s CSeries and Embraer’s E-jet family in the less-than-100-seats market, is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1200 geared turbofan engines and available in either the the 90-seat MRJ90 or 70-seat MRJ70 models.
To date, the MRJ has received 233 firm orders, 170 options and 24 purchase rights for the aircraft from the likes of ANA, which is the launch customer, Japan Airlines, Eastern Air Lines Group, US-based Skywest, Trans States Holdings and Air Mandalay.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation said FTA-3 made its first flight on November 22. The aircraft took off from Nagoya at 1018 and returned two hours and four minutes later at 1222.
The company now has four flight test aircraft flying, given FTA-2 had its first flight at the end of May.
The aircraft is Japan’s first locally-produced commercial passenger aircraft since the country stopped making the YS-11 in 1974.
The company is targeting first delivery in mid-2018.
