Water ingestion and flooded runway tests have begun for the Comac ARJ21 regional jet program. On June 28th, 2012, high speed taxi tests were conducted at Xi’an Yanliang airport with representatives of CAAC and the FAA in attendance. The tests initially began on June 22 with taxi, landing and take off tests on one of the airport’s runways which was flooded for them.
The program began in depth flight tests in February 2012 and the program plans to fly 1,500 hours of testing in total. The program announced that it has completed airspeed calibration, natural icing, engine nacelle anti-icing, and crosswind validation tests so far. After the water tests, the program will move onto a series of stall flight tests. Ongoing delays in the certification program have meant that delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer Chengdu Airlines has been delayed from the original delivery date of the end of 2011.
