It can’t be sped up, like you can’t speed up a pregnancy. Longevity tests take time, that is the point.
COMAC C919
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Certification of CJ1000 will take time. WS-20 might be able to fill the gap. But I am not sure how practical it will be. Even if the airlines can absorb the higher fuel consumption of WS-20, C919 will still need to be modified for the new engine. That will very likely require the modified version to go through airworthiness tests/certification.
From what many of us understand or read, the CJ1000A was supposed to be put into service by 2020.
The timeline was delayed as there was a new requirement for all the parts to be manufactured domestically.
Probably has something to do with the US-China trade war or concern with National Security.
Longevity tests do take time but if you run the test on a 24 hour testing day cadence rather than say an 8-12 hour testing day cadence and you run more tests in parallel with more samples and more test infrastructure you can speed up the process at a cost. It’s not ideal but it’s doable.
Part of the delay was that they refined the design. The market changed but better components also became available during the design planning process.
it is a simple example of an existing engine that is deployed. CJ-1000 is not yet deployed.
WS-20 is not certified for civil aviation. If you start the certification process now it won't necessarily finish before CJ1000A and you're going to slow down the certification process for CJ1000A as well.
People are being paranoid. I'm sure COMAC has a healthy number of LEAP-1C in stock and can speed up delivery if they hear anything. The worst case scenario? COMAC gives up expansion plans and adopts to a super low production rate for a few years. Meanwhile domestic suppliers focus on expanding capacity for defense contracts. 6-7 years later we'll have a fully domestic C919 and we can ramp up production then.