Aircraft
Mitsubishi MRJ Number 2 Takes Flight
First flight confirms “basic characteristics and functionality”
Mitsubishi is still preparing to fly the first prototype of its MRJ airliner to the Japanese company's new engineering facility at Moses Lake in Washington state. [Photo: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation]
Mitsubishi is still preparing to fly the first prototype of its MRJ airliner to the Japanese company's new engineering facility at Moses Lake in Washington state. [Photo: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation]

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.