Five named to man plane's 1st flight

Five test pilots have been chosen for the maiden flight of the Chinese-built passenger jet C919 on Friday.

The C919 is a single-aisle commercial aircraft built for medium-haul flights, with up to 174 seats and twin engines. Its maiden flight was scheduled to take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

The five pilots - Cai Jun (captain), Wu Xin (co-pilot), Qian Jin (observer), as well as Ma Fei and Zhang Dawei (engineers) - have long flight experience, the newspaper Jiefang Daily reported. They are from the test center of Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd, the maker of the C919.