MRJ test flight returns to Japan

Lynne Lynch | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 5 months AGO

The MRJ will be flight-tested over the next three years in Moses Lake.

Nagaya, JAPAN — The Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) was sent home to Nagaya Field on Sunday for the second time over the weekend while headed to Moses Lake on a test flight. During the flight, the crew found that the monitoring function of the air management system needed inspection, according to a prepared statement from Mitsubishi.

The company will decide the date to resume the flight based on the results of the inspection.

“The aircraft is safe and they are evaluating,” said Rich Mueller, director of facilities and operations at the Port of Moses Lake. The aircraft was scheduled to land at the Port-operated Grant County International Airport this week.

“They want to get here as soon as they can.”

Safety is better in this case and they’re taking it in stages, he said.

“They just want to be very sure until they come our way,” Mueller commented.

The aircraft is one of four scheduled to travel to the U.S. this year as part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification process.

According to company spokesperson Reina Endo, the aircraft that turned around Sunday has flown more than 50 times now in and around Japan. A timeline for rescheduling a new flight will likely be established today, she explained.

In an online promotional video, Mitsubishi touts the 90-seat MRJ passenger plane as the “passenger jet of the future.”

The project is a boon to the Moses Lake area, as an estimated 200 Japanese flight engineers and technicians are expected to accompany the flight test program, according to a May Columbia Basin Herald article. Some administrative positions are being filled locally.

The local economy benefits because workers will need housing, vehicles, fuel, groceries, clothing and entertainment.

The life of the project is estimated to last a few years. Improvements were underway last year for Port tenant AeroTEC (Aerospace Testing Engineering and Certification) to build a $9 million, 65,000-square-foot hangar on leased port property. Mitsubishi’s jets will be parked in the hangar during flight test work in Moses Lake.