Fourth MRJ laid over in Hawaii

MOSES LAKE — Mitsubishi Aircraft’s fourth regional jet did not arrive at Grant County International Airport on Thursday after a problem in flight forced the plane to return to Honolulu.

According to Reina Endo, manager of Mitusibishi’s Moses Lake Flight Test Center, said the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) aircrew saw an error message not long after taking off from Hawaii and returned.

Endo had no details on the nature of the error message, nor when the plane would arrive in Moses Lake.

“Considering the weather for the next few days, it is likely that it will be delayed,” Endo said.

The plane would be the fourth jet Mitsubishi has in Moses Lake for testing, with the other three arriving last year. Possessing a limited range, the regional passenger jets take a circuitous route to get to Central Washington, flying from Japan to Guam, then to Hawaii, and then on to San Jose before arriving in Moses Lake.

Mitsubishi needs to conduct 2,500 hours of flight testing on the MRJ in order for the aircraft to be certified to fly commercially. The company has more than 200 confirmed orders for the jet — Japan’s first domestically designed and built jetliner — but has had to delay delivery from mid-2018 to mid-2020 in order to redesign critical electrical systems.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com