Domestic manned airships: a new "darling" of low altitude tourism
2024-04-23
Recently, the "Xiangyun" AS700 manned airship independently developed by China Aviation Industry Corporation (hereinafter referred to as AVIC) completed its first transition flight. "Everything went smoothly according to plan!" Faced with media footage, Captain Lin Hong, who had just stepped off the "Xiangyun" AS700 manned airship, carefully recounted his feelings in the air to the reporter as he took off his gloves. From the inside out of the airship, the scenery was clearer than from the plane; The interior of the airship is relatively spacious, and the comfort level is much better than that of ordinary small airplanes. This round manned airship took off lightly from Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen, Hubei. After a flight of 1 hour and 46 minutes, it landed smoothly at Shashi General Airport in Jingzhou. After a brief rest, it returned to Jingmen and successfully crossed the "Two Jingmen". The chief designer of the AS700 manned airship project, Zhou Lei, stated that this flight has completed all established tasks, fully verifying the AS700's flight communication, facility loading, and off-site takeoff and landing capabilities. At the same time, it further tested the technical team's ability to ensure transition, laying the foundation for further long-distance and longer flight hours. As an ancient aircraft, the world's earliest airships have been around for more than 100 years, even earlier than airplanes, and have contributed to the economic takeoff of low altitude for the first time. At that time, airships often used hydrogen as a buoyancy gas. However, due to multiple major safety accidents such as hydrogen explosions, they were gradually neglected and replaced by airplanes. Since the 1970s, people have been using non flammable helium as a buoyancy gas, and it was only then that airships have entered a period of development again. In recent years, with the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the scale of the tourism market has been expanding. Among them, low altitude sightseeing tourism projects are increasingly favored. Airships, with their smooth flight, slow speed, and comfortable experience, are not only popular in aerial tourism and sightseeing, but also in fields such as aerial surveys, daily patrols, and emergency communication. In order to meet the increasing market demand both domestically and internationally, the AS700 manned airship project began its development as early as 2018. According to the design concept of "one boat with multiple types and series development", a total of three boats will be produced in the project. Among them, 01 were technology validation boats, which were converted into unmanned airships after completing scientific research flights, and all scientific research flights were completed in 2023; 02 and 03 are airworthiness verification boats, with successful maiden flights in December 2022 and September 2023, respectively. "The project team has achieved three 'firsts' in product development, technological breakthroughs, and airworthiness standards of AS700." Du Wei, the project manager of AS700 manned airship, introduced that AS700 has achieved the localization of main materials, onboard systems, and equipment for airships for the first time, building a self controlled supply chain system for manned airships. At the same time, the development of AS700 has for the first time broken through key technologies such as lightweight and low-cost capsule structure design, and airship thrust vector synchronous servo control. In addition, through the development of this product, the development technology system and airworthiness verification system of manned airships have been established. During the development period, the project team also assisted the Civil Aviation Administration in preparing and publishing a draft for soliciting opinions on the airworthiness regulations for manned airships in China for the first time. We hope that the AS700 model is safe, environmentally friendly, convenient and comfortable
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