Posted on 12/21/2007 10:39:15 AM PST by charles m
SHANGHAI, China (AP) — China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft rolled off the production line Friday, marking a potential milestone for the country's aviation program.
In a nationally televised ceremony, the Xiangfeng, or "Flying Phoenix," was towed into a hangar at the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory amid flashing laser lights and rousing music. The rollout ceremony was closed to most media, apart from state-run CCTV and the official Xinhua News Agency.
"Today, China's aviation industry has turned over a new leaf," Lin Zuoming, general manager of China Aviation Industry Corp. I, or AVIC I, said in comments carried on the news channel of China Central Television.
The maiden flight for the the ARJ-21 is planned for March. It will carry up to 90 passengers and have a flight range of 2,300 miles, according to Xinhua.
AVIC I plans to begin deliveries to customers in the third quarter of 2009, it said.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration opened an office in Shanghai in March and is working on safety standards with China's General Administration of Civil Aviation.
Original plans called for the jet to be ready by late 2005, but design problems forced a delay.
The highly touted project aims to make state-owned AVIC I a competitor to other makers of smaller passenger jets, such as Canada's Bombardier Inc. and Brazil's Embraer SA, while laying the groundwork for development of a commercial jet twice the size of the ARJ-21.
"A country's aviation industry is not complete unless it is able to produce civilian aircraft," said AVIC I's Lin.
The manufacturer says the ARJ-21 is expected to grab up to 60 percent of the domestic market for mid-size regional airliners over the next 20 years.
China will need about 900 mid-sized regional jets over the next two decades, the company estimates, as economic growth drives an expansion of air travel and airlines look for planes best tailored to feeder routes.
Complete with lead wings and cheap plastic parts which fall off in midflight...
Wow!,
It doesn’t look anythig like an American plane.
Yup! Wait for the first recall. The “investigators” will find the factory disassembled and the building empty. No one will know where it/they have gone.
ARJ = American Re-engineered Jet
Soon to be available at your local Walmart.
Wow....a DC-9 with winglets.
Have to admit that’s a nice looking plane. Question is though does it have a six month half life like all other Chinese products.
I don’t think Boeing has much to worry about. Airbus on the other hand....
LOL. As if...
Regardless of what country this happens in, is producing something that other countries have been making for 50 years really all that big of an accomplishment?
Don’t swallow any of the parts; they’re likely toxic.
Way too small for as heavy as that plane will be (It is made in china, after all, and cheap = heavy)
They also look a little low and too close to the wing root.
I won't be flying in one.
And they won’t be able to sell it here ‘cause of the lead based paint.
Looks an awful lot like a Canadair CRJ, though. ;)
Isn’t Canada the 51st state?
But look at 50 years of aviation history and we go from Kitty Hawk to the first F-4’s.
You are right: “Nov. 4, 2002. AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd. (ACAC) of China today signed a cooperative Letter of Intent with GE selecting GE’s CF34-10A engine to power the ARJ21 regional jet now in development.”
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