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COMAC ARJ21 (Xiangfeng)

2016 MODERN AIRCRAFT

History

In a bold move by China's indigenous industry, it has produced a predominantly domestic ARJ21 ("Advanced Regional Jet 21") "Twin" for the potentially lucrative regional jet market. Designed by AVIC and manufactured under the COMAC brand, the aircraft uses U.S. engines and avionics, while all other aspects of the aircraft are locally designed, developed and delivered. The ARJ21 officially entered service with Chengdu Airlines on June 28, 2016 (the first was delivered in November 2015), although the project has been ongoing since 2002.

In production since 2007. The first flight was recorded on November 28, 2008.

COMAC includes well-known companies in China's aviation industry such as Chengdu, Xi'an, Shenyang and Shanghai Aircraft Corporation. Important foreign players in the program are General Electric (supplying turbofan engines) and Rockwell Collins (supplying avionics).

The aircraft has a traditional layout: the flight deck is behind a flat, rounded nose cone for a good view of what's ahead. The pilots sat together as usual. The fuselage is tubular, tapering at the very end where it joins the single-blade tail.

The horizontal planes are all moving surfaces and mounted high on the fins, completing the "T-shaped" multi-hop fin. The main plane of the wing rests lower on the sides of the middle of the fuselage. Each wing swept back along the leading edge is covered with winglets.

Each engine nacelle is located on a short wing at the rear of the fuselage to reduce operating noise for passengers. Walking on the ground is facilitated by a tricycle landing gear that sees all three legs on the two wheels.

Four main variants of the ARJ21 currently exist or have been proposed: ARJ21-700, ARJ21-900, ARJ21F and ARJ21B. The -700 model can accommodate between 70 and 95 passengers, while the extended -900 model can carry up to 105 passengers. The ARJ21F is a proposed "freighter" version designed to carry up to 23,000 pounds of cargo.

The ARJ21B or "COMAC Business Jet" (CBJ) is a market model of the business jet (BizJet) that will be developed in 2020 as a demonstration aircraft for marketing purposes. Mainly for the domestic market, followed by the export market.

ARJ21-700 offers passengers 1 or 2 class seating. Overall length is 109.8 feet, with a wingspan of 89.5 feet and a height of 27.7 feet. Curb weight is 55,015 pounds, and MTOW is a whopping 96,000 pounds, depending on total load. Power comes from 2 General Electric CF34-10A turbofan engines with 17,057 pounds of thrust, giving the aircraft a top speed of 540 mph, a cruise speed of nearly 514 mph, a service ceiling of up to 39,000 feet, and a range of up to 2,300 miles.

Operator number two.

-900 supports varying numbers of passengers (also available in 1 or 2 class seating arrangements) and is 119.2 feet long. This affects weight (curb weight and MTOW increase to 57,920 lbs and 104,020 lbs, respectively. All other performance figures are the same.

The ARJ21 project has proven to be a daunting task for Chinas indigenous industry, which in turn has led to a series of delays. The series release was originally slated for 2010, but was repeatedly delayed as new technical hurdles emerged (causing the aforementioned June 2016 service date to become official).