Updated with additional details about the flight from a subsequent statement by Comac.
The Comac C919 narrowbody airliner has completed its long-awaited second flight, with a two-and-a half-hour sortie from Shanghai's Pudong International airport.
Aircraft B-001A's second sortie comes nearly five months after its highly publicised first flight on 5 May.
Flight tracking sites show that it took off at 07:23 and landed at 10:09 local time, flying to the north of Shanghai, where it conducted several orbits over China's coast. It maintained a constant altitude around 10,000ft throughout the mission.
In subsequent statement, Comac said that the aircraft's landing gear was retracted during the sortie.
Comac added that the C919's second flight coincided with a test flight of a new ARJ21 aircraft. This marked the first time in history that two Chinese-made commercial jets have been airborne at the same time.
The second flight was significantly longer than the first, which took just one hour and nineteen minutes. Media reports, however, indicate that the second flight was supposed to last until 11:00.
When questioned about the long gap between the first and second flights at the at the Paris air show in June, Comac said that work was underway to detail the programme's flight-test plan and modules. It stressed however that no major issues surfaced since the first flight, but that some small improvements were being made.
The C919 is powered by two CFM Leap-1C engines. The second prototype aircraft, B-102A, achieved power-on on 28 July. Its first flight is expected before the end of the year, after which it will focus on engine, APU, fuel system tests, and some extreme weather testing.
The manufacturer will use six flight test aircraft in its test campaign.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
