China's home-built C919 completes latest test flight

China’s first domestically-built large jetliner, the C919, has successfully completed its latest test flight at the Aviation Industry Test Center in Yanliang, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Thursday, officially embarking on its airworthiness certification phase.

China’s first domestically-built large jetliner C919 [Photo: Xinhua]

This is also the aircraft’s first test flight after its intercity flight to Yanliang Testing Base on November 10, a key step in moving forward to normal operation.

The flight started at 11:31 a.m. BJT and lasted 137 minutes. The jetliner passed over 10 test points at an altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 meters, and conducted a low pass for the first time.

“We will test 1,500 flights during three years with over 2,000 flight hours, and collect over 50,000 parameters of the C919 jetliner,” said Ge Heping, secretary of the party committee of the Aviation Industry Test Center, adding that various test flights of high risk and difficulty will also be conducted to carry out a thorough examination of the aviation security under extreme conditions.

The jetliner had an outstanding performance in the test, according to Zhao Peng, captain of the test flight crew, especially in the headwind landing. “The flight state of this time is closer to normal operation.”

“Today’s flight is mainly to help build coordination between the pilots and the aircraft and make a preliminary evaluation of its airworthiness,” said Zhou Zhanting, chief flight test engineer.

If the plane enters the market, it will provide a significant boost to China’s aerospace industry.