Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan, October 20th Title: Planes that can "swim" and ships that can "fly" — — Three highlights of domestic large amphibious aircraft AG600′ s first flight on water
Xinhua News Agency reporters Pi Shuchu, Hu Zhe and Li Jinfeng
On October 20, the "Kunlong" AG600 slid to the surface of the water to prepare for takeoff. At 9: 05 on the same day, the domestic large-scale amphibious aircraft "Jilong" AG600 successfully achieved its first flight on the water at Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen, Hubei. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Minshe
"Kun can turn feathers into the sky, and the wind is 90,000; The dragon can shake the scales across the sea and hit the water for 3 thousand. "
On the 20th, a large amphibious aircraft independently developed by China — — "Kunlong" AG600 successfully made its first flight on the water at Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen, Hubei.
At this point, China’s big plane has finally taken a complete step of "going into the sea", and the outline of building an aviation power has become clearer.
Braving the wind and waves: How many hurdles does "Kunlong" need to go through to hit the water?
Slide at high speed, take off, and gently enter the water and splash. In everyone’s expectation, after successfully completing the first flight on land, the "Zhenlong" AG600 braved the wind and waves to hand over a bright first flight answer sheet on the water.
“‘ Kunlong ’ It is currently the largest amphibious aircraft under research in the world. " Huang Lingcai, chief designer of AG600 aircraft, said that although "Jilong" had successfully made its first flight on land in Zhuhai at the end of last year, for an amphibious large aircraft, it must undergo the test of taking off and landing on the water before it can be called amphibious.
On October 17th, Huang Lingcai, the chief designer of AG600 aircraft, introduced the features of this aircraft (video screenshot). Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiong Qishe
At present, there are few countries in the world that can develop amphibious large aircraft, and the key water take-off and landing are in technical blockade. The first flight of "Kunlong" on water faces at least three major difficulties:
— — Wade through the water. There are planes on the shore and big ships on the water. The fuselage and wingspan are similar to Boeing 737, and the take-off weight reaches more than 50 tons. How to ensure that the structure of the aircraft is watertight when it is on the water? Compared with the ship speed of about 30 knots, the take-off speed of AG600 on the water surface reaches 100 knots, and the water surface exerts great pressure on the bottom structure. Under the influence of surface wind and waves, it is a great test whether the aircraft is stable and the control system is normal.
— — Operation off. Compared with the land flight, the landing gear is different for the first flight on water. The water take-off and landing depends on the hull taking off and landing on the water surface. In addition to the influence of the water surface environment, the aerodynamic characteristics of the hull and the aircraft itself need to be repeatedly practiced and accurately mastered by the pilot. In particular, it is much more difficult to master the attitude of leaving and landing than landing and landing on land.
— — Airworthiness clearance. As a civil aircraft, it must obtain the airworthiness certificate issued by the national civil aviation authority before it can carry out flight activities. AG600 is the first time to carry out airworthiness review of water chartered flight in China, and the relevant reference materials and work experience are relatively scarce. In addition, the localization rate of the whole machine equipment is high, and it is difficult to review the airworthiness between different standards.
On the basis of intensive experiments in the early stage, "Kunlong" made more than 10 sorties of low, medium and high-speed taxiing on Zhanghe Reservoir in Jingmen. Through real-time monitoring, the aerodynamic maneuverability, stability and watertightness of the aircraft are verified, and the aircraft systems work normally and stably, so that the flight crew can be familiar with and master the water taxiing, take-off and landing characteristics of the AG600 aircraft.
At the same time, the AG600 aircraft development team carried out a large number of targeted tests and analysis and evaluation work. After reviewing 365 test and analysis tasks, the Shanghai Airworthiness Certification Center of the Civil Aviation Administration focused on reviewing and issuing the first water flight license. Test flight outline, technical quality and release evaluation of the first flight on water & HELIP; … After a series of preparatory work is completed, the AG600 has passed all the thresholds, waiting for the first flight on the water.
"Report, AG600 successfully completed the first flight mission on the water!" The brief and powerful report voice of the first flight crew made the first flight site once again a sea of celebration.
Zhao Jingbo, general manager of the Zhuhai Base of Aviation Industry and deputy commander of the AG600 project, said that the first flight on the water was particularly smooth, and the monitoring data was basically consistent with the theoretical calculation, which indicated that "Xunlong" had fully taken off and landed on the water and truly became a "meeting ‘ You ’ The plane "and" will ‘ Fly ’ The ship. "
"The AG600 large-scale amphibious aircraft has verified the ability of taking off, flying in the air and landing on the water, successfully completed the major milestone of the first flight on the water, and took another solid step in the development process." Tan Ruisong, chairman of China Aviation Industry Corporation, said.
Rescue and fire fighting: what is the use of large amphibious aircraft?
Pumping water quickly, large fire area. There are 4 watertight boxes in the hull part, which can draw up to 12 tons of water at a time during sliding, and the fastest time is only 20 seconds; When you arrive at the fire, you can throw water at a height of 30 meters to 50 meters from the treetops, and a single throw of water can cover nearly 10 basketball courts.
Long voyage and long battery life. The rescue radius can reach 1500 kilometers, which is equivalent to the distance from Sanya to Zengmu shoal in the southernmost part of China. The flight speed is more than ten times that of the salvage ship, and the disadvantages of slow rescue speed and short legs of helicopters are completely eliminated.
High wave resistance and wide land and sea uses. The hull also has a high wave-resistant design, which can not only search at low altitude on the water surface, but also carry out surface rescue operations under the complex meteorological conditions of 2-meter-high waves, and the water emergency rescue can rescue 50 people in distress at one time. Remote island reefs and plateau lakes can show their talents in material transportation … …
The rich functional uses of "Kunlong" make it a veritable "all-rounder".
"AG600 is a large-scale special-purpose civil aircraft first developed in China to meet the urgent needs of forest fire fighting and water rescue." Luo Ronghuai, general manager of China Aviation Industry Corporation, said that the AG600 aircraft is a major aviation equipment urgently needed for the construction of the national emergency rescue system, which is of great significance for improving the supply capacity and level of domestic civil aircraft products, effectively promoting the leap-forward development of China’s emergency rescue aviation equipment system, and boosting the construction of a maritime power.
In order to achieve and meet various design indicators and functional requirements, since the establishment of the AG600 project in 2009, the research team has continuously overcome difficulties, completed more than 100 large-scale tests and more than 3,000 equipment safety tests, and confirmed thousands of components manufacturing compliance projects and tens of thousands of manufacturing compliance inspection procedures.
"According to ‘ Amphibious, multi-type and serial development ’ The design idea, from project establishment, design, joint manufacturing by major aircraft manufacturers, to airworthiness signing and final assembly, almost every step of AG600 is an attempt and breakthrough of large special aircraft. " Huang Lingcai said.
Compared with the conventional civil aviation aircraft, the main landing gear of the AG600 can only be stowed in the fairing of the fuselage level because the bottom of the fuselage is the shape of the bottom of the ship and the wing is the upper wing. The landing gear of the AG600 is higher than that of the conventional aircraft.
"As the highest single-strut landing gear in China, in addition to the structural strength requirements, it will also have similar problems of walking on stilts, and the high center of gravity is easy to be unstable." Cheng Zhihang, a designer of Zhuhai General Aviation R&D and Manufacturing Base, said that after three-dimensional modeling and motion simulation technology, the project team continued to test and solve problems, and finally manufactured the highest and most complicated single-leg landing gear in China.
Chen Yuanxian, deputy general manager of China Aviation Industry Corporation, said that the successful first flight of "Kunlong" on the water indicates that China has completely mastered the completely independent intellectual property rights of the overall design, aerodynamic structure and avionics system of large-scale amphibious aircraft. "Next, AG600 will speed up the development and enter the market as soon as possible to meet the needs of the national emergency rescue system construction for large-scale aviation equipment."
The future can be expected: What new trends does the big plane highlight in China aviation development?
Yun 20 carried out boundary limit test, C919 continued flight test and strived for airworthiness approval as soon as possible … … This time, with the successful first flight of the AG600 on the water, China’s domestic large aircraft research and development road continues to be steady and far-reaching.
For a period of time, "Made in China" or "Assembled in China"? "Heart disease" and other "stuck neck" problems and "core-missing pain" in the fields of aero-engines, avionics systems and aviation materials are still unavoidable problems in China aviation manufacturing industry.
Liu Daxiang, an aero-engine expert and academician of China Academy of Engineering, once admitted that aero-engines are our "weakness" compared with aviation powers. China aircraft calls for a strong "China heart", and aviation "key technologies" such as aero-engines, avionics systems and high-end materials need to be broken through.
"The product of the wind is not thick, and its negative wings are powerless." The four engines assembled on the AG600 this time are domestic turboprop 6 engines, and the aero-engines in China are moving from "basically available" to "basically usable".
Throughout the world, in terms of amphibious aircraft, Japan currently has an advanced amphibious aircraft US-2; Russia’s "Bie" series seaplanes are widely used in the military and civilian fields; The CL-415 amphibious aircraft developed by Canada can be used for search, patrol and rescue, and is equipped with the Canadian Coast Guard. Lockheed Company of the United States has been engaged in the research and development of seaplanes for a long time, and has provided various design schemes for the navy to choose from.
The highest and most complicated single-strut landing gear in China, innovative hull structure and advanced aerodynamic layout … … Faced with many thorny technical problems, the main research and development team behind AG600, with an average age of only 35 years, has always pursued national interests, infiltrated youthful passion into the design, research and development and manufacturing of every component, and wrote the struggle answer sheet of aviation in the new era with practical actions.
Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that from the start of ARJ21 to the development of aircraft such as C919 and AG600, it marks that China’s civil aviation industry has stood at a new starting point in the new era and made new progress, which indicates that the development of China’s civil aviation industry will enter the fast lane. "It will be a huge impetus to the structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading of the country’s entire manufacturing industry."
"Tonghua Wan Li Danshan Road, the young phoenix is clearer than the old phoenix." Constantly introduce new products and constantly sprint the cutting edge — — Looking forward to the future, people will not only see the AG600, but also see more and more China wings flying for nine days.
After China’s self-developed large transport plane Yun 20 was delivered and installed, and the C919 passenger plane made its first flight, the large amphibious aircraft AG600, one of the three brothers of China’s large aircraft, also successfully made its first flight on the water, marking an important step in the construction of China’s aviation power.
"Kunlong" hit the water and dreamed of taking off. With the support of the three domestic big aircraft brothers, there will be more domestic big aircraft coming out in the future, and the pedigree of multi-model and multi-purpose China aircraft will be more complete, which will become another vivid annotation of the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream. This requires China’s aviation industry to make persistent efforts, continue to carry forward the spirit of serving the country by aviation, earnestly implement the new development concept, vigorously promote innovation and development, and strive to build an internationally competitive brand made in China, so as to transform "Made in China" into "Created in China" and strive to achieve the goal of building an aviation power!
