Comac Rolls Out C919

The first C919 peeks at the audience at Comac’s Shanghai assembly plant as the curtain is drawn. The large Chinese characters in gold say “the dream takes flight."

Comac tows the first C919 through the crowd for its roll out. It’s 2015, so some people just have to take selfies.

The first flight-test aircraft is due to fly in 2016.

The Chinese government launched the C919 program—and set up Comac—in 2008 with a target of flying the first aircraft in 2014 and making the first delivery in 2016. Comac said last year it would deliver in 2018, but it has since declined to update that outlook.

Avic builds the C919 structure. The wing comes from the Xian plant of Avic Aircraft, the group’s large-airplane specialist.

The CFM Leap 1 will power the C919. An Avic unit has the enormously challenging task of developing an equivalent turbofan as a second powerplant for the type.

Looking upward and aft at the left wing of the first C919, it appears that Avic has reinforced the wing root with a doubler. The right wing root has been completed in the same condition.

The panel fit and riveting on the first C919 is irregular in places, especially in areas of double curvature. Flight-test aircraft commonly show more signs of fabrication difficulties than production aircraft.