The C919 plateau variant successfully completed its maiden flight, and the domestically produced Changjiang-1000A engine has finished certification testing.

China's C919 large aircraft has taken another major step forward—truly no small feat! The first prototype of the C919 plateau variant has successfully completed its maiden flight test. The flight trials were conducted on July 29th at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with all scheduled test missions accomplished, marking a crucial milestone in the series development of the C919 aircraft.

However, the most pressing priority for the C919 remains achieving full domestic production capability and boosting manufacturing capacity to avoid being bottlenecked by U.S. restrictions again. Although the C919 currently has over 1,000 orders, only 15 aircraft were actually delivered last year—far below the originally planned 75 deliveries. This shortfall stems from critical components, such as engines, being held back by foreign suppliers, severely limiting production capacity.

But there’s some good news: according to recent reports from domestic media, China’s dedicated indigenous engine for the C919, the CJ-1000A (also known as the "Yangtze-1000A"), has completed all 317 airworthiness certification tests with a 100% pass rate in April this year. It is expected that the first C919 equipped with the domestically produced CJ-1000A engine will be delivered to China Eastern Airlines this third quarter. Thus, we may soon witness a C919 powered by a Chinese-made engine soaring through the skies. This means one more key industrial sector where Western countries could previously choke off China’s progress is now under domestic control.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1872020128070668/

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