The AS700 civilian airship conducts a demonstration flight in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Saturday. The aircraft was delivered to a local company and will be used for aerial sightseeing. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Aviation Industry Corp of China, the nation's leading aircraft maker, has delivered the AS700 multipurpose civilian airship to its first customer, who will use the craft for aerial sightseeing.
According to a news release from AVIC, the first AS700 was delivered on Saturday to Guangxi Guilin Fangzhou General Aviation, a private company, at a ceremony in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
The Guangxi company will use the airship for low-altitude sightseeing tours.
Before the delivery, the first AS700 had undergone a 15-day trial involving tens of flights, during which designers examined its safety and reliability.
In August, the airship flew through three provincial-level regions on a 13-hour demonstration tour, marking the longest flight — both in terms of distance and duration — ever completed by any domestically built manned airship in China.
At the ceremony on Saturday, AVIC received orders for another 12 AS700s from Guangxi Guilin Fangzhou General Aviation and China Comfort Travel Group, according to the conglomerate.
Designed and built by the Special Aircraft Research Institute, an AVIC subsidiary in Jingmen, Hubei province, research and development of the AS700 began in August 2018, primarily to meet the demand for aerial sightseeing tours.
Propelled by piston engines, the airship has a maximum takeoff weight of 4.15 metric tons, a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and a flight ceiling of 3.1 km. It can carry one pilot and nine tourists, and is capable of flying 700 km and staying in the air for up to 10 hours.
After intensive test flights, the AS700 received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in December, becoming the first manned airship in the country to be domestically certified.
Before the AS700, the Jingmen institute had designed a number of manned and unmanned airships since the mid-1980s. However, almost all of them were small models used to carry scientific equipment to perform experiments or technology demonstration rather than for tourism purposes.
According to industry experts, compared with conventional aircraft like fixed-wing planes or helicopters, airships have much lower costs in terms of procurement, operation and maintenance. They can be used almost everywhere, as opposed to fixed-wing planes that require a runway. Therefore, airships are a good choice for aerial tourism and cargo transportation to remote areas.
In addition to aerial tourism, the AS700 is suitable for a wide range of civilian operations such as mineral prospecting, marine surveillance, police patrols, cargo transport and emergency rescue, according to Zhou Lei, its chief designer.
By ZHAO LEI
- Sightseeing airship sold to first buyer
- Huawei launches world's first tri-fold smartphone
- Nation's first mpox virus test product approved for market entry
- China's manned airship arrives in Guilin after 1st trans-provincial ferry flight
- Local grapes and wampee fruits freshly sold in Nanning
- First batch of high-quality Pakistani buffalo embryos arrives in Guangxi
Popular Videos
Hot comments
- China Life: Chinese women shine with She Power
- First apes at U.S. zoo receive COVID-19 vaccine made for animals, zoo official says
- PLA celebrates 91st anniversary amid reforms
- Homemade curling videos trending in China
- 16-year-old Chinese girl reaches summit of Mt. Qomolangma
- 77th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II commemorated
- 17-year-old becomes youngest pilot to fly solo around world
- Young woman devoted to traditional Chinese knot buttons
- China releases new videos, images from Mars probe Tianwen-1
- Zhuang Brocade
Top Reviews
- Booming service trade injects vitality into China's high-quality development
- King of Malaysia to visit China
- China sees 5.26 million cross-border trips during Mid-Autumn Festival holiday
- Descendants of WWII Japanese invaders apologize for atrocities and call for peace
- Scholar unveils new document of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in China
- Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations held across the world
- China-Laos Railway has handled 10 million tonnes of goods
- Sightseeing airship sold to first buyer
- Guangxi Pavilion of CIFTIS opens
- Xi urges continuous efforts to run people's congresses to good effect as political system's 70th anniversary celebrated