Feb 27 2012

Shuttle America Embraer 170 Incident at Newark

Shuttle America LogoA Shuttle America Embraer 170 operating in United Express colors, made an emergency landing at Newark Airport during the evening of February 27th, 2012. The aircraft’s nose gear would not deploy and the aircraft made a non-standard landing as a result. The airport was temporarily closed as crews responded to the landing, passengers and crew left the plane via emergency chutes.

N637RW

Shuttle America Embraer 170 N637RW

The plane, an Embraer 170, registered N637RW, was operated by Shuttle America on the 3:47 p.m. flight from Atlanta to Newark. The pilot declared an unsafe landing gear situation before landing at Newark.

After a flyby of the tower to check the position of the gear and application of foam on the runway, the plane landed just before 6:30 p.m.

There were 69 passengers and four crew members on the flight; no injuries were reported. The aircraft remained on the runway for several hours and then was moved  to a hanger for further examination by the NTSB.

The aircraft is expected to be returned to service.

The following is video of the aircraft on the runway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SL79atuDcA

YouTube Link

Feb 27 2012

Icing tests begin on Comac ARJ21 program test aircraft

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China announced that the ARJ21 regional jet program has begun icing performance tests as part of the aircraft’s ongoing certification.

In a statement from Comac, as part of its first nacelle anti-icing test, Aircraft 104 departed from Xi’an Yanliang airport on February 25th, 2012 for a three hour test flight to Hafei airport. No difficulties were reported in the testing.

COMAC ARJ-21 Prototype B-1110L. Photographed by Peng Chen

COMAC ARJ-21 Prototype B-1110L. Photographed by Peng Chen

The test was designed to prove the ability of the aircraft’s anti-icing systems to allow operation in freezing temperatures with precipitation.

Comac indicated that after inspections, the aircraft and its engines were found to be in good working condition.

The icing tests came shortly after the aircraft was issued its type inspection authorization notice, which allows the program to begin Civil Aviation Administration of China’s certification procedure.

The program’s launch customer Chengdu Airlines, was to receive the first aircraft by the end of 2011, but this has been delayed by up to one year because of ongoing delays in the certification process by the manufacturer..

Feb 23 2012

Estonian Air leases first Embraer 170 from Finnair

Estonian Air’s first 76-seat Embraer 170 arrived in Tallinn on February 22 on delivery from Finnair. The aircraft is the first to wear the airline’s new colour scheme.

The company will lease a total of four Embraer aircraft to be delivered in the next few months, but the airline plans to eventually have 12 of the aircraft in its fleet.

The airline expects to complete all deliveries by the end of 2015.

Feb 15 2012

Possible delay in Mitsubishi Regional Jet First Flight Date

Mitsubishi Aircraft has announced at the Singapore Airshow, that it will need to calculate the extent a rescheduling of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet program could affect the timing of the aircraft’s first flight, which is officially still scheduled to occur later this year. The company confirmed the delay, but would not offer any details about the reasons behind it.

Mitsubishi Regional Jet

Mitsubishi Regional Jet

Apparently there are concerns among Mitsubishi Aircraft executives about the program’s progress, but it was made clear that Pratt & Whitney’s PW1217G engines that power the aircraft do not account for the delay.

The MRJ90 program has firm orders from All Nippon Airways for 15 aircraft, Trans States Airlines for 50 aircraft and ANI Group Holdings has signed an agreement for five aircraft. ANI has also indicated that they will order twenty 100-seat MRJ100X aircraft if Mitsubishi later chooses to launch that project.

Mitsubishi is examining the market for the 100-seat MRJ100X, but no decision on the program is expected until after the first flight of the MRJ90.

The flight test program for the MRJ program is expected to be roughly one and a half years in length. It is possible that there may be some margin in what is seen as a conservative flight test program and that might help to mitigate the anticipated delay.

Mitsubishi plans to use five MRJ90 flight test airplanes, a ground test airplane and a static test example in the test program. They are expected to be followed by two flight test articles for the 78-seat MRJ70 aircraft, which is scheduled for certification roughly a year after the MRJ90 aircraft.