Chinese AG600 New Configuration Fire-Fighting Seaplane Makes First flight

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced the first flight of a new variant of the AG600 Kunlong fire-fighting/water rescue amphibious aircraft.

In a statement today, the company said the maiden flight took place on May 31. At 10:55, the first flight crew, consisting of captain Chen Ming, co-pilot Sun Kangning, aerial mechanic Zhang Lei and monitoring observer Jiao Lianyue, drove the AG600 aircraft to taxi and take off from Zhuhai Jinwan Airport, completing constant speed climb and level flight deceleration, release flight, simulated approach and go-around and other test flight tasks. They successfully landed after flying in the air for 20 minutes, and concluded that the aircraft is in good condition, the control system is normal, and the systems are running stably.

The AG600 aircraft is the first large-scale special aircraft developed in accordance with civil airworthiness standards in China. The successful maiden flight of the AG600 full-state new configuration fire extinguisher marks that the AG600 project has entered a new stage of accelerated development, and also marks a major breakthrough in the development of fire-extinguishing function models, which has crossed another major project milestone. It is a national autonomous aviation emergency rescue.

In the engineering verification stage, the AG600 technology verification machine has successively achieved the first flight on land, water and sea, key performance test flight and water pumping and fire extinguishing function verification test flight. Key technologies such as complex high-pillar landing gear have laid a solid and reliable technical foundation for the development of the project. In the practical application stage, it is mainly to carry out the development of all-state new configuration fire extinguishers, rescue aircraft and airworthiness certification.

The AG600 full-state new configuration fire extinguisher that flew for the first time this time has a maximum take-off weight of 60 tons and a maximum water carrying capacity of 12 tons, filling the gap of domestic large-scale aviation fire extinguishing aircraft. This type of aircraft is equipped with a pressurized cabin, adopts fly-by-wire flight control and integrated avionics, and is equipped with a full mission system. Compared with the technical verification aircraft, it has higher safety, larger water input, longer range, and better platform serialization development ability.

In 2018, the AG600 technology verification machine made its maiden flight on water.

The aircraft will have the ability to perform fire-fighting tasks and will be put it into practical application in 2023. In 2024, the fire extinguisher will obtain the China Civil Aviation Airworthiness Certificate and deliver it to users. In 2025, the rescue aircraft will obtain the China Civil Aviation Airworthiness Certificate and deliver it to users.