Mitsubishi wants to start US MRJ flight tests this summer

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. is seeking permission from Japanese and US regulators to move the start of MRJ flight testing in the US from the end of this year to this summer. The MRJ90 achieved first flight in Japan in November 2015, but in December Mitsubishi Aircraft announced a delay in the planned first delivery of the aircraft to All Nippon Airways (ANA) to mid-2018. Under the revised flight test schedule, the start of flight testing in the US—where four of five MRJ90s planned for the flight test program will conduct the vast majority of MRJ flying required to gain certification—was set for the fourth quarter of 2016 or the early part of the 2017 first quarter. With the first MRJ flight test aircraft (FTA-1) having accumulated about 44 flight hours in 22 test flights in Japan, Mitsubishi Aircraft now wants to bring FTA-1 to the US about six months earlier. FTA-2, which is in the final stages of preparation for its first flight in Japan this month, could also come to the US this summer, according to Mitsubishi Aircraft officials.<br/>