Development of Mitsubishi Aircraft’s MRJ regional jet continues on schedule, as some 800 engineers, designers and subcontractors in Nagoya, Japan, work to complete the project’s critical design review by the end of this year. Finished with the project’s preliminary design review in April, the engineering team aims to ready the first of four MRJ90 prototypes for first flight near the end of 2011. Development of the 70- to 80-seat MRJ70 lags its larger sibling by roughly a year, according to Mitsubishi Aircraft executive vice president Junichi Miyakawa.
Holding a firm order for 25 MRJ90s from Japan’s All Nippon Airways, Mitsubishi plans to deliver the first of the batch in 2013. Miyakawa reported that engineers have frozen the design of the outer mold line and decided on the sizing of the major structural elements of the MRJ, based on aerodynamic loads taken from wind-tunnel testing. He explained that Mitsubishi has completed its evaluation of the structure and systems interface in one of the most complicated parts of the airplane–the nose section–to define maintainability, accessibility and manufacturing processes. The company has also completed the definition of the engine-pylon interface, another particularly complex part of the aircraft in terms of parts integration and loads, according to Miyakawa.
More In Aircraft
