标题: C919 and ARJ21 [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 11-4-2014 10:41 标题: C919 and ARJ21 Bradley Perrett, C919 Inches Toward Flight-Testing, ARJ21 Toward Upgrade. Aviation Week, Nov 3, 2014
aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/c919-inches-toward-flight-testing-arj21-toward-upgrade
Quote:
(a) Regarding C919.
(i) In Comac: "A composites factory is equipped with China’s largest autoclave, 5.5 meters (18 ft.) long, although Comac has decided not to use composites for large and difficult parts of the aircraft, such as the center wingbox.
"Comac says customers have ordered 400 C919s. But the contracts have little binding effect, according to people who have seen some of them. And even if the order book comprised solid contracts, it would still have two shortcomings in the makeup of its customers. One is that they are all Chinese, with the exception of Gecas, which belongs to General Electric, a supplier. The impression, then, is that customers are ordering for national policy.
"Then there is the curiously small quantity covered by the central government’s big three airlines—China Southern, Air China and China Eastern—to which the program must be looking as anchor customers. At the 2010 Zhuhai show, those three each ordered just five C919s, while Hainan Airlines, the private, fourth-ranked Chinese carrier, ordered 20.
(ii) C919 as well as ARJ21 "has no clear path to endorsement of its airworthiness by the FAA or European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), as originally intended. * * * The ARJ21 is running eight years late, so the CAAC’s work on the C919 has not been recognized by the FAA. EASA has never been involved. * * * 'Getting an FAA or EASA certificate is still under discussion,' says Comac. This is not just important for international sales of the C919; Chinese customers also want a Western stamp on the type certificate.
(iii) "Flight-testing will be conducted mainly from a new base at Dongying Shengli Airport in Shandong. * * * It will handle some ARJ21 flight-testing, as well.
(b) Regarding ARJ21: "after so many years of development, during which its technology has aged significantly, the type [ARJ21] is unlikely to be a hot seller internationally. For example, its engine is the GE CF34-10, which Embraer is replacing on its next series of E Jets.
(c) For both C919 and ARJ 21: "Comac has been contractually obliged to compensate suppliers for the lateness of the program.