Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

The second Mitsubishi MRJ90 (FTA-2) took to the air for its first flight Tuesday from Nagoya Airport in Japan, launching the latest phase in a flight-test program expected to cover 2,500 hours of flying by five prototypes. In a statement issued just after the conclusion of the flight, Mitsubishi Aircraft and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) reported that FTA-2 confirmed its basic characteristics and functionality in airspace off the Pacific Coast. The companies plan to use FTA-2 primarily to confirm the model’s performance specifications, they added.

 


“As with the first flight conducted with MRJ’s FTA-1 in November of last year, we had a quiet, smooth first flight with FTA-2,” said Mitsubishi Aircraft president Hiromichi Morimoto. “After this, we will move ahead smoothly with development of the subsequent flight-test aircraft, and make our utmost efforts towards type certificate acquisition and the first delivery.”

 


Mitsubishi Aircraft and MHI hope to advance the start of flight testing of the first MRJ90 at Grant County International Airport at Moses Lake in Washington State from the fourth quarter of this year to some time in the summer, raising the possibility that it could gain certification as much as two months earlier than the official delivery target of mid-2018. Speaking with AIN during May’s Regional Airline Association Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mitsubishi Aircraft head of strategic marketing Hideyuki Kamiya reported that since MRJ FTA-1 resumed flight testing in Japan in February, results have proved encouraging enough to consider ferrying the airplane to the U.S. ahead of schedule.

 


“To expedite to the summer, if we continue to see flight testing go smoothly, and if we get approval [from the U.S. FAA and Japan’s JCAB], it’s not such a difficult target I think,” said Kamiya.

 


Mitsubishi flew the first flight-test aircraft three times last November before withdrawing the machine from operation to incorporate planned structural and systems changes. In late January, Mitsubishi revealed details of the strengthening modifications, deemed necessary after static test results begun in May 2015 indicated a weakness in the airframe and wing attachment. As a result, it installed additional “plates” to reinforce original parts on the center wing box. Mitsubishi then changed the design for the production airplanes to account for more robust parts.

 


All told, Mitsubishi plans to ferry four of the five flight-test articles to the U.S., while the fifth—painted in the livery of launch customer ANA—performs autopilot testing in Japan. As FTV 1 and 2 perform functional and performance testing, plans call for FTA-3 to test flight characteristics and avionics and for FTA-4 to perform interior, noise and anti-icing trials. The company plans to use FTA-5 for autopilot tests.

 


Processing of flight-test data will take place at Mitsubishi’s engineering center in Seattle, established last August in collaboration with locally based AeroTec specifically to administer MRJ testing in the U.S.

 


Kamiya said early fuel burn tests validated claimed consumption rates, and that the test pilots reported that handling characteristics have proved “better” than what they experienced in the simulator.

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

Mitsubishi MRJ Number 2 Takes Flight 

First flight confirms “basic characteristics and functionality”

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Chad Trautvetter

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Long-rumored airplane revealed during customer event in Savannah, Georgia

Gulfstream Finally Takes Wraps Off Super-midsize G300

Kerry Lynch

Deliveries on the potential $6B order anticipated to begin in 2030

Otto Aerospace Lands 300-Phantom 3500 Order from Flexjet

Jessica Reed

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Jack Pelton is chairman and CEO of EAA, and Bunce was GAMA’s former president and CEO

Bunce, Pelton Named to Int’l Air & Space Hall of Fame

Owners spend relatively more on yachts as they age

Jetcraft Traces Spending of Yacht and Bizjet Owners

New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

Updates includes SVGS for Garmin 5000 suite and GDL Datalink

Citation Latitude Receives FAA Nod for Avionics Updates

Charles Alcock

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Bavarian companies agree to collaborate with research and technology projects

Deutsche Aircraft Backs Vaeridion's Electric Regional Airliner Work

Curt Epstein

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

The addition brings another aviation service under the company banner

Million Air Launches Aircraft Brokerage

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News about simulators and training procedures, as well as workforce.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

More In Aircraft