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Mitsubishi Aircraft’s second Mitsubishi Regional Jet flight test aircraft (FTA-2) carried out its first flight on Tuesday, May 31. Mitsubishi Aircraft Photo
Mitsubishi Aircraft’s second Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) flight test aircraft (FTA-2) carried out its first flight on Tuesday, May 31. After taking off from Nagoya Airport at 10:04 a.m., FTA-2, which is painted with red stripes, flew toward airspace off the Pacific coast, and confirmed its basic characteristics and functionality during a nearly 130-minute flight.
FTA-2 reached a maximum speed of 250 knots (about 460 kilometres per hour) and an altitude of 27,500 feet (about 8,400 metres).
Having completed one-month planned modifications, FTA-1 resumed flight tests on Friday, May 13. With FTA-1 and FTA-2, Mitsubishi Aircraft will carry out multiple flight tests on a daily basis in Japan.
The company has achieved steady progress in MRJ development and continues to prepare the aircraft to leave for Washington State in the U.S. by the end of July (at earliest), where full-scale flight tests are scheduled to take place.
