The fourth example of China’s new AG600 aircraft, the AG600M firefighting variant of the Chinesedeveloped family of large amphibious aircraft, successfully completed a test flight in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province on Saturday, February, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) said 25th
As this fourth AG600 is the last aircraft in the production batch destined for development and certification, the success of this Saturday’s flight indicated, according to the Chinese portal Global Times, that the aircraft will fully enter the flight test phase to ensure the ensure airworthiness certification.
During today’s flight, the plane remained stable in the air for 17 minutes and its various systems maintained stable conditions, AVIC told the Global Times.
On Feb. 25, China’s fourth large amphibious aircraft AG600M “Kunlong”, aimed at largescale firefighting/water rescue operations, made its maiden flight in Zhuhai, Guangdong.#Airplane #Aviation pic.twitter.com/KImAqs7XVr
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) February 25, 2023
AVIC built four AG600 aircraft for research purposes. The first completed a land flight test on May 31, 2022 and the other a water test on August 29, 2022.
The AG600 family of aircraft, codenamed Kunlong, or “water dragon” in Chinese, is being developed for use in emergency rescue missions. It can be used in forest fire fighting, marine search and rescue, and other critical emergency rescue missions.
As a member of the AG600 family, the AG600M has been specifically designed for fighting forest fires. Its maximum takeoff weight is 60 tons, with a water transport capacity of up to 12 tons and a flight range of up to 4,500 kilometers. It can perform lowaltitude, lowspeed flight, which allows it to accurately throw water at burn sites.
With the goal of achieving airworthiness certification for the firefighting variant in 2024 and for the rescue variant in 2025, the aircraft will undergo a series of tests in 2023, AVIC confirmed.