China's Comac C919 edges toward first flight

China’s efforts to develop a second airliner to boost the nation’s economic competitiveness and prestige is slowly coming to fruition in the form of the C919, the inaugural flight of which officials expect as soon as late March. Developed by Comac, the narrowbody has reached the early stages of pre-flight trials, including taxi and brake tests, according to a Comac official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Every day, the experimental test pilots get progressively more involved in testing different things,” he said. “It looks like it will fly late in Q1 or early in Q2. After that you probably won’t see it fly for quite a while.” According to the same official, the C919’s major avionics systems such as the navigation, flight management system and autopilot remain incomplete, however. Final design reviews also remain pending. <br/>