A prototype of the AS700 civil multi-purpose airship completed its longest journey on Tuesday and Wednesday, crossing three provincial regions, according to state-owned aircraft manufacturer Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country’s leading aircraft manufacturer.
The airship took off from Jingmen Zhanghe Airport in Hubei province at 6:01 a.m. on Tuesday and made short stops at two civilian airports in Hunan province before arriving at its destination, an airship service point in Guilin, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, at 12:44 p.m. on Wednesday, AVIC said in a press release, adding that the airship covered nearly 1,000 kilometers in the test flight.
This was the longest flight ever undertaken by a domestically built manned airship in China, both in terms of distance and duration, it said.
During the cross-province test flight, which lasted nearly 13 hours, two pilots controlled the airship and flew it at altitudes between 500 and 1,990 meters at speeds between 60 and 80 kilometers per hour, the company said.
According to AVIC, the aim of the operation was to test the performance and capability of the AS700 model in long-term and long-distance flights and to test the skills of the pilots and ground staff.
Designed and built by the Special Aircraft Research Institute, an AVIC subsidiary in Jingmen, the research and development of the AS700 began in August 2018 with the main goal of meeting tourists’ demand for sightseeing flights.
The airship is powered by piston engines, has a maximum take-off weight of 4.15 tons and a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
The aircraft can carry a pilot and nine tourists, is capable of flying 700 kilometers and staying in the air for up to 10 hours.
