Majority of MRJs Approved To Continue Flight Testing

On September 11, Japan’s JCAB approved the first three MRJ flight-test aircraft (FTA) to resume flight testing. FTA-4 had been approved to fly on September 6, and FTA-1, -2, and -3 are now all back to active flight test status.

FTA-3 flew on September 11 for approximately three hours, according to a Mitsubishi spokesman, “and completed without incident.” FTA-1 and FTA-2 were scheduled to begin flying again on September 12.

The five airplanes in the MRJ flight test fleet were grounded following the August 21 uncommanded shutdown of FTA-2’s left Pratt & Whitney PW1200G geared turbofan.

“While we are still in the final stage of the investigation of the cause, current analysis tells us that the incident from August on FTA-2 is isolated, and the rest of the MRJ flight-test aircraft were inspected and cleared as not affected,” the spokesman told AIN.