The Chinese AVIC I Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century (ARJ21-700) rolled out on Friday afternoon in Shanghai. This is a major milestone in Chinese aerospace. This is the first commercial jet offering in Chinese history. AVIC announced a 100 aircraft order by Kunpeng Airlines, a joint venture between China and Mesa Air Group, bringing the order total to 170. The 70 to 95 seat aircraft is powered by two General Electric CF34-10A turbofans at 15,332 lbs. of thrust each.
Bombardier and AVIC have decided to collaborate on the development of the larger ARJ21-900. This collaboration may actually lead to trouble for Bombardier if the -700 begins to eat into its market share on the CRJ.
One thing that deserves special attention is the design of this aircraft. Though it does bear a striking resemblance to a western counterpart, what strikes me when looking at these photographs, which were taken by Flight's Leithen Francis, is the very troubling location of the aft emergency exits. If you look closely as these photographs, you'll notice that the aft exit is directly in front of the engine inlets. In the event of an emergency evacuation, passengers will be exiting dangerously close to the engine, which could be potentially spinning and/or on fire at the time. I cannot imagine that safety regulators will be content with this design, nor should they.
Overall, the introduction of a new national player in commercial aircraft design and manufacture is a very bright point for the industry which will only serve to drive new partnerships, innovation, research and development. The more choices the market has, the better the products the flying public gets to enjoy.
All Photos Courtesy of Leithen Francis
Many more photos below the fold.
on December 24, 2007 2:13 PM | Reply
Would it have some wiring problems that will delay its delivery?
on December 24, 2007 2:46 PM | Reply
Congratulations China, for inventing the DC-9-10!
on December 24, 2007 3:36 PM | Reply
Wonder if the inside has been stuffed yet, or if it is just a hollow core of an airplane...
on December 24, 2007 9:22 PM | Reply
Will they be required to disclose the lead content?
on December 25, 2007 3:45 AM | Reply
Scott, the fuselage was lengthened late in the design phase to have the required space between the engine and the exit. I believe they consulted FAA to get that correct.
on December 25, 2007 6:25 AM | Reply
nice copy of Boeing 717!!! So we all wait for the first flight!
on December 25, 2007 4:05 PM | Reply
I a quite appalled by some sarcastic comments
re. "reinventing the DC-9-10 or the 717 "...
I've just come back from China. And visited a
number of aerospace companies. Anybody witnessing the truly amazing qualitative
progress and engineering creativeness of this
industry will not be suprised to find out that
the chinese aerospace industry won't drag its
feet very long before it becomes a genuine competitor for both Airbus and Boeing. Our
bemused folks should also reflect on China's ability to build and successfully launch rockets capable of competing with any other lancher without owing a single pound of technology to any western design.
on December 25, 2007 4:21 PM | Reply
Oh yes, they did not take anything from western technologies in rocket building but russian technologies instead...
on December 25, 2007 6:52 PM | Reply
bring the measurements of this "invention"! This is a bad copy of Boeing 717. No surprises here as look at chinese "self-made" cars and electronics.
on December 26, 2007 10:51 AM | Reply
Next up:
The copy ofthe A320. I'll wage $100 that the Chinese will copy the A320 detail for detail. What do they bring to the table except for a copy of an already proven aircraft?
on December 26, 2007 11:32 AM | Reply
It is rather a bold coincidence that China liscense built a few MD's back in the 80's and now have produced an indigenous airliner that looks EXACTLY like the MadDog. I have no doubts about the technical prowess of the Chinese aviation and aerospace industry; their leaps forward in know how over the past 15 years can not be denied. But honestly, looking at the specs and drawings of this thing, it's a new DC-9-10, and there is no denying it!
on December 26, 2007 10:18 PM | Reply
Well I see that the Chinese have also taken aircraft"Anti Theft" to a new high! Great (Copy) of a master lock.
on January 3, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply
hopefully these jets wont be as bad as their cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F06LjugtIUo
im asian but sometimes im totally appalled and embarrassed to be asian by what my motherland produces...
on January 3, 2008 8:47 PM | Reply
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... where have I seen that plane before? It looks vaguely familiar ...
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I guess that McDonnell-Douglas should feel proud that they were the first commercial aircraft manufacturer to be cloned by the emerging Sino aviation industry.
Not only did they copy the DC-9/MD-80/717, but they ALSO plagiarized the Firefox logo ... although it's red, you can see the similarities.
Go ahead ... Google "Firefox logo" and you'll see!
on February 25, 2008 7:50 AM | Reply
you are all wrong these are the DC9s from NWA with a new paint job and just came out from an E check with "no lead".
on November 14, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply
to: Admin - If You want to delete your site from my spam list, please sent url of your domain to my emai: stop.spam.today@gmail.com
And I will remove your site from my base within 24 hours
webmastegz