After the December 24th briefing from Mitsubishi, we had some questions which we emailed to Japan. It is a tough time of the year to get people, but we were fortunate that the company had people in place and were sent these answers to the questions.
- Can you explain what exactly is meant by airframe strengthening? Is it the wing or landing gear, for example?
For example, strengthening of the wing is among the details of the changes we are making based on test feedback. This has to do with the fact that in static strength tests conducted in spring, when ultimate weight loads exceeding normal loads were exerted on some components, components that were not strong enough were clarified. Also we are strengthening of the fuselage after the test feedback. We have been reinforcing these components, as planned after the first flight. This kind of reinforcement work is something that happens in development work. - Which system software needs updating?
Avionics, flight control system, engine control unit. - How confident is MITAC these are the only issues it needs to fix?
(no reply) - What is the probability MITAC will discover more items that need to be fixed?
At this point, all of the risks we are aware of have been factored in. In preparation for some unforeseeable eventuality, we will do our utmost to advance the scheduling of each work operation to create a scheduling buffer, just in case. - Could you please give us an idea what percent of the people working on this project are MITAC employees and what percent are outside contractors?
We don’t have specific percentage of employees, but it is approximately 1,500 as for MITAC as of February 2015. Also below is on-site employees as of 2018 for your information. (As for the number of outside contractors, we don’t have the number.)
For your reference, the below is a graph of production base expansion scheme for the MRJ manufacture announced by MHI.
