China's first large-scale amphibious aircraft AG600 successfully completed the first flight on the water in Jingmen, Hubei province, last Saturday, filling the gap in the development of large-scale amphibious aircraft in China. As one of the "three brothers" of China's large aircraft, the success of the first flight of the AG600 aircraft on water is another major breakthrough made by China in the field of large aircraft.
The AG600, codenamed "Kunlong," successfully finished a trial flight in August from an airport in the city of Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong province, to an airport in Jingmen, a city in central China's Hubei province, to get ready for the test phase on the water.
The aircraft passed a series of tests since its maiden flight last December.
Designed to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, the AG600 is powered by four domestically built turboprop engines and has a range of 12 hours, according to Huang Lingcai, chief designer of AG600.
It will be mainly used for maritime rescue, fighting forest fires and marine monitoring.
Its name "Kunlong" represents high expectation in Chinese culture, with the kun meaning an enormous legendary fish and "long" a dragon.
The AG600 can carry 50 people during search-and-rescue missions, collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds for firefighting and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.
The aircraft is designed to have a range of 12 hours and an operational range up to 4,500 kilometers. It is also capable of takeoff and landing in 2-meter waves.
As the "youngest" one of China's large aircraft family, AG600 conducted its maiden flight on Dec 24, 2017 at Zhuhai Jinwan Airport.
China's large aircraft family includes the Y-20 large transport aircraft, C919 large passenger aircraft and AG600 large amphibious aircraft.
(Source: ourjiangsu.com)
