AIR TRANSPORT
fiightglobal.com 10-16 November 2015 | Flight International | 13
ALPA recharges call
for outright li-ion
battery ban
AIR TRANSPORT Pchief regulator at the Civil
Aviation Administration of China
(CAAC), says his agency has ap-
proved 60 certification plans and
more than 1,000 test verification
tasks. The approval programme
for the C919 is progressing “in an
orderly way”, he says.DEVELOPMENT
For its part, Comac says that
thanks to its experience on the
ARJ21 it now has a deeper under-
standing of the flight-test require-
ments, which will make the pro-
cess smoother. Co-ordination with
the CAAC is also better, it adds.
Programme officials also point
to a relatively untroubled assem-
bly process as proof that it has
made progress since the ARJ21.
Chief engineer Jiang Liping, in-
volved in both the C919 and
ARJ21, attributes this progress to
lessons learnt in process control,
as well as the improved specifica-
tions the manufacturer was able
to give suppliers.
One Chinese analyst points out
that the ARJ21 had “a lot of design
issues to begin with”, and that it
endured countless retests and re-
designs after its 2008 first flight.
This should not happen with the
C919, he says, since it was “built
to a different approach”.
The narrowbody’s designers
have also played it safe, opting toutilise composites for only 12% of
the aircraft. The initial target for a
30% total – including the wings
and wingbox – was scaled back to
simplify the programme and
mitigate possible delays.
Although the development pro-
cess appears much improved, Rob
Morris, head of consultancy at
Flightglobal’s Ascend operation,
says that Comac must establish a
global customer support network
that compares favourably with
those of Airbus and Boeing in
order to break into the internation-
al market. It must also deliver dis-
patch reliability for the C919 that
matches or exceeds that of the
A320neo and 737 Max, he says.
Teal Group’s vice-president of
analysis, Richard Aboulafia, says
China has unquestionable poten-
tial, but must change its approach
to design and development.
“They need to stop insisting
that every part of the aircraft be
built in-country. National vertical
integration always ends in disas-
ter,” he says. “The important point
is that China has tremendous po-
tential. They’re the world’s largest
jetliner market right now, with
great talent, and great resources.”
But sometimes national pride
has to take a front seat. “A great
nation must have its own large
commercial aircraft,” says CAAC’s
Li Jiaxiang. ■to start ground tests, analysts
stress the need for Comac to stick
to its timetable. One of the most
pressing reasons is that it will
enter service after the re-engined
narrowbodies from Airbus and
Boeing – featuring variants of the
Leap powerplants – which arrive
in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
Analysts also note that
Comac’s relative inexperience in
systems integration and certifica-
tion could generate delays, as it
did on the earlier ARJ21 pro-
gramme. The regional jet, which
is dated by Western standards,A
s the curtains parted in front
of the dignitaries assembled at
Shanghai’s Pudong International
airport – including Chinese vice-
premier Ma Kai – the audience
was presented with two things.
There was the Comac C
itself – a narrowbody aircraft set
to compete against the Airbus
A320 and Boeing 737 that
features a host of Western-sup-
plied equipment, including CFM
International Leap-1C engines.
But perhaps more significantly,
the C919 is also an embodiment of
Bejing’s ambitions to become a se-
rious player – above and beyond
simply being a supplier – in the
commercial aircraft industry.
Of course, Comac is aware that
the roll-out of China’s most ad-
vanced airliner programme to
date is not an end but a begin-
ning. It now faces a long road to
get the aircraft airborne, certifi-
cated and delivered.
Speech after speech at the un-
veiling ceremony addressed the
challenges the airframer is up
against. Vice-premier Kai de-
scribed aircraft manufacturing as a
“complicated technical process”,
while Comac chairman Jin
Zhuanglong called the C919 a
“long-term complex project”.
DEADLINES
The programme, launched in
2008, has a target of a first flight
in 2016. Suppliers indicate that
Comac is working to achieve the
maiden sortie in the second
quarter of next year, with first
customer delivery earmarked for
the end of 2018.
Programme observers expect
these deadlines to slip, and sup-
pliers themselves have called the
targets “aggressive”.
Chief designer Wu Guanghui,
however, is bullish. He tells
Flight International that he is
confident of maintaining the
C919’s schedule, and is satisfied
with progress thus far.
As aircraft 101 – painted in the
airframer’s corporate colours of
white, blue and green – prepares
PROGRAMME MAVIS TOH SHANGHAI
China’s ambitions rest on Comac C
Roll-out of first flight-test example of indigenous narrowbody marks milestone on long march to certification and delivery
Comac
Ground tests will begin shortly on aircraft 101, ahead of its maiden sortie scheduled for next year“China is the world’s
largest jetliner
market right now,
with great talent and
great resources”
RICHARD ABOULAFIA
Vice-president of analysis, Teal Grouponly received Chinese certifica-
tion last December, more than 12
years after the programme was
launched following a develop-
ment effort beset by problems. It
has yet to be delivered to launch
customer Chengdu Airlines.
But those involved in the C
programme say they have learned
from their mistakes. Li Jiaxiang,