According to industry sources, China Eastern's aircraft acceptance team for the first C919 has arrived at COMAC's Delivery Center near Pudong International Airport (PVG). The kick-off meeting was held on the morning of November 28th.
Further information reveals the aircraft's registration number will be B-919A. However, it will keep its temporary registration number (B-001J) until the transfer of title.
The industry standard is that the aircraft needs to be ready (all assembly work finished, all the applicable SBs implemented, all the functional tests finished, etc.) before the customer arrives. This C919 was spotted at COMAC's facility near Pudong Airport on November 22nd with the brand-new China Eastern livery. Previously it wore the COMAC livery as it made its maiden flight in May. Now we can confirm that it was conducting its final production flight, a prerequisite for ready-for-delivery status.
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The C919 program Production Certificate (PC) was issued today
COMAC announced on its official WeChat page that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued the C919 program Production Certificate (PC) to COMAC in Shanghai on November 29th.
There are three certificates needed for an aircraft type before it can enter into commercial operations under CAAC regulations: Type Certificate (TC), Production Certificate (PC), and Airworthiness Certificate (AC). The C919 program received its Type Certificate (TC) on September 29th. This shows that the CAAC believes the aircraft's design is safe and reliable following the test flights.
The Production Certificate (PC) issued today, on the other hand, shows that the regulator recognizes the aircraft manufacturer's quality assurance for the production system, and the C919 program is qualified for mass production.
Compared with COMAC's ARJ21 program, which received the Production Certificate (PC) one year and a half after its first delivery, the C919 program's progress is a significant improvement. It also shows that COMAC's quality control system is more mature and reliable after years of mass production of the ARJ21.
C919 Aircraft Evaluation Group (AEG) review report issued today
The C919 program also passed its T5 test today, and CAAC issued the Aircraft Evaluation Group (AEG) review report. After completing the T5 test, 15 pilots, including COMAC flight instructors, obtained the C919 Type Rating.
The T5 test is also known as the Type Rating training specification test of the Flight Standardization Committee, which is a full-scale review of the C919 pilot training system of COMAC. The first batch of pilots, COMAC and China Eastern flight instructors, and CAAC inspectors can obtain the C919 Type Rating after completing the T5 test.
The C919 T5 test lasted nearly two months. It was attended by five representatives of the regulator (including one representative from the Civil Aviation Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government), three pilots from China Eastern Airlines, and two from COMAC's Customer Service Center.
The C919 AEG Evaluation Report gave the evaluation conclusions of the C919 aircraft, including the pilot qualification specification, maintenance personnel qualification specification, Master Minimum Equipment List, scheduled maintenance requirements, and operation and continuous airworthiness documents.
The CAAC Eastern Regional Office also updated the COMAC's Certificate of Flight Training Center and Certificate of Maintenance Training Center by adding the C919 aircraft today, officially granting permission to COMAC to provide complete C919 training services to its airline customers.