NAMC YS-11 - Operational History

Operational History

The first production YS-11 flew on October 23, 1964 and was delivered on March 30, 1965, with initial airline operations by Toa Airways beginning in April 1965. At first, deliveries were mainly to Japanese airlines, and NAMC developed the YS-11A, with higher gross weight, to make the aircraft more attractive to the North American market, and in particular to meet the requirements of Piedmont Airlines, which ordered 10 YS-11A-200s, with an option for a further 10. Orders slowed after the needs of the Japanese commuter airlines for which it had been designed were met, and this, together with growing losses, resulted in production being stopped after completion of 182 aircraft, with the last YS-11 being delivered to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force on May 11, 1973.

The YS-11 was slowly phased out by airlines in Japan due to new directives issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism requiring all commercial aircraft in Japan to be fitted with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Aircraft without TCAS were forced to cease operations at the end of 2006. Since equipping a YS-11 with TCAS would have cost ¥100 million (US$1.083 million), such a refit was deemed economically unsound. Aircraft that were still in flying condition were sold to foreign companies. On September 30, 2006, Japan Air Commuter Flight 3806 marked the final flight for a YS-11 in Japan's commercial aviation industry. In 2007, the YS-11 was added to the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan No. 13.