Free Republic

China’s first home-grown narrowbody passenger jet has passed a battery of “deep level” safety tests as part of a step that is expected to help the C919 find overseas markets as its rival Boeing wrestles with a list of mechanical woes. China Eastern Airlines Technology, a subsidiary of the group that owns C919 operator China Eastern Airlines, concluded four days of “A-inspection” tests on Monday at a hangar in Shanghai, the Civil Aviation Administration said on Tuesday. The aircraft is required to undergo safety checks after either every four months, 700 flight hours or 500 flight cycles – meaning the...

China's first domestically built passenger plane completed its maiden flight today. The narrow-body, twin-engine C919 successfully took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 2pm local time (7am BST) amid much fanfare. The single-aisle aircraft has been billed as China's answer to the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 as the nation aims to take on western airlines. The C919 flight is Beijing's first step toward independence from Boeing and Airbus as it attempts to replace all 6,000-6,800 of its western aircraft at a cost of around $1 trillion.