On September 29th, the certification ceremony of C919 aircraft in type certificate was held in Beijing Capital Airport. Song Zhiyong (left), director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, presented type certificate of C919 aircraft to He Dongfeng, chairman of Comac China.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Tao photo
Weinan Airport, located in pucheng county, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, is a national civil aircraft research and flight test base. The picture shows the C919 large passenger plane at the airport.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Ting photo
At 6: 52 on May 14th this year, the C919 passenger plane numbered B-001J took off from the fourth runway of Shanghai Pudong Airport and landed safely at 9: 54, marking the successful completion of the first flight test of the first C919 passenger plane that China Commercial Aircraft Corporation will deliver to its first customer.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Ting photo
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader said that making the China big plane soar in the blue sky bears the national will, national dream and people’s expectation.
On September 29th, the Civil Aviation Administration of China awarded the C919 type certificate to Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as "Comac China"). From the establishment of the project in 2007 to the first flight in 2017, and then to the completion of evidence collection, it took 15 years, and the domestic large aircraft was finally allowed to engage in commercial operations and was about to soar above the blue sky.
What are the advantages of domestic large aircraft? Why build your own large civil aircraft? Our reporter interviewed Comac China and relevant experts in civil aviation.
Have a competitive advantage in many aspects
— — It is not only equipped with advanced systems and materials, but also provides passengers with a more comfortable ride environment.
On September 29th, the type certificate certification ceremony of C919 aircraft was held in Beijing Capital International Airport, which was an important milestone in the cause of China’s large aircraft, and marked that the large passenger aircraft with independent intellectual property rights developed by China in accordance with internationally accepted airworthiness standards passed the airworthiness certification. Since then, China has a single-aisle trunk airliner that can be put into operation.
"C919 completed the evidence collection, indicating that its safety and reliability meet the requirements of airworthiness regulations." Li Xiaojin, director of civil aviation university of china Institute of Aviation Economics, told this reporter that the C919 successfully made its first flight in May 2017. During the flight test period of more than five years, six trial aircraft have completed a series of flight test missions in Yanliang, Shaanxi, Nanchang, Shandong, Pudong, and Dunhuang, Gansu, and comprehensively verified the power and electrical systems, verifying the safety and reliability of the aircraft in various extreme situations such as stall, natural icing, high temperature and extreme cold. At 6: 52 on May 14th this year, the seventh aircraft of C919 jumbo took off from Shanghai Pudong Airport and landed safely at 9: 54, marking the successful completion of the first flight test of the first C919 jumbo aircraft that China Commercial Aircraft Corporation is about to deliver to its first customer.
Whether a civil airliner can be put into commercial operation is not decided by the manufacturer, nor by the operator, that is, the airline, but by airworthiness certification. The type certificate won this time is the ticket for large aircraft to enter the aviation market.
After getting the admission ticket, it depends on the advantages of domestic large aircraft if they want to gain a foothold in the aviation market.
C919 is equipped with advanced systems and advanced materials. According to Comac of China, the C919 wing design adopts supercritical airfoil design independently developed, which can reduce drag by 5%. The use of advanced materials such as Al-Li alloy and composite materials makes the structure lighter, which greatly improves the safety, economy and environmental protection of the aircraft. At the same time, it is equipped with advanced airborne systems and engines with superior performance.
For passengers, the wide fuselage of the C919 will provide more seating space. At the same time, it adopts high-efficiency air filtration system to provide passengers with high-quality fresh air, and the cabin lighting adopts humanized scene lighting design to create a warm and considerate comfortable environment.
The C919 is aimed at Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 series models, and adopts single-channel narrow-body layout, with 158 to 192 seats and a range of 4,075 to 5,555 kilometers. At the same time, the C919 is safe and reliable, backed by the vast China market, and has unlimited potential.
At present, C919 has accumulated more than 800 orders from 28 customers. "Before type certificate was acquired, there were more than 800 orders, which was quite impressive. The safety, economy, comfort and other aspects of the C919 are relatively suitable for market demand, and are suitable for domestic long-distance routes and neighboring Southeast Asian international routes. " Li Xiaojin commented like this.
An important milestone in China’s commercial aircraft manufacturing industry
— — It is a large jet civil aircraft developed by China and with independent intellectual property rights.
Why build a large domestic civil aircraft? Aviation manufacturing industry is known as the "flower of industry", with long industrial chain and high added value, involving hundreds of professional categories, which has high requirements for industrial capacity. Among them, the R&D and manufacturing capacity of large passenger aircraft is an important symbol of a country’s aviation manufacturing level and is also regarded as the embodiment of a country’s overall strength.
In the past ten years, the C919 research team insisted on independent innovation and open cooperation, successively conquered a number of key technologies, formed a number of core capabilities, tempered a number of talent teams, promoted a number of industrial development, and formed a capability platform to support the independent development of China large aircraft.
The person in charge of Comac China said that through the development of C919 large passenger aircraft, China has completed the whole process of design, manufacture, test, flight test and airworthiness certification for the first time, and has the ability to develop large passenger aircraft according to internationally accepted airworthiness standards.
C919 adopts the mode of "main manufacturer+supplier". As the main manufacturer of domestic large aircraft, Comac China is responsible for the design and development, system integration, final assembly, airworthiness certification, customer service and marketing of C919. Comac China conducts supplier selection and management for airframe structure and airborne system equipment nationwide. The structure of C919 is designed by Comac of China, and manufactured by many domestic enterprises, with completely independent intellectual property rights. The engine is provided by CFM, a US-France joint venture company, and the avionics system is provided by Angji Avionics, a Sino-US joint venture company.
The development of domestic large aircraft is also an important aspect to meet the dual needs of the national economy and development strategy. Li Xiaojin said: "The civil aviation industry is a national basic and strategic industry. Buying a large number of foreign aircraft makes our air transportation industry subject to people. At the same time, the price of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 series aircraft is about $110 million to $120 million. If you buy hundreds of aircraft every year, it will cost tens of billions of dollars, which is relatively high. With the commercial operation of C919, it will accelerate the integration of upstream and downstream industries, amplify the industrial correlation effect of civil aviation and aviation manufacturing, and further improve the overall economic development quality. "
The aviation market in China is large.
— — In the next 20 years, China’s demand for passenger airliners is estimated to be 9,084, worth about 1.39 trillion US dollars.
At present, Airbus and Boeing account for the bulk of the global civil aviation aircraft market with more than 100 passengers. After C919 is put into commercial operation, what impact will China large aircraft bring to civil aviation?
— — Create new economic growth points.
China’s civil aviation transportation industry is in a period of rapid growth, and the domestic market demand is great. The development of domestic large aircraft will better meet the needs of China’s economic development and people’s travel, and create new economic growth points.
China Commercial Aircraft Corporation Market Forecast Annual Report (2021— 2040) predicts that in the next 20 years, more than 41,429 new aircraft will be delivered worldwide, with a value of about 6.1 trillion US dollars (based on the 2020 catalogue price). China aviation market will receive 9,084 new aircraft, with a value of about 1.39 trillion US dollars (based on the catalogue price in 2020). Among the newly accepted aircraft in China aviation market, the number of narrow-body passenger aircraft will reach 6,295. As the mainstream aircraft in the civil aviation transportation market, narrow-body passenger aircraft account for about 80% of China’s civil aviation fleet and 70% of the global fleet.
— — Promote the upgrading and development of the industrial chain.
C919 is the take-off work of China’s large civil aircraft industry, and the aviation manufacturing industry chain driven by C919 has great potential. It is expected that it will drive group breakthroughs in new materials, modern manufacturing, advanced power, electronic information, automatic control, computers and other fields, and will also enable aviation high-end raw materials, subsystems and parts manufacturers to achieve performance growth. At present, more than 20 provinces, more than 1,000 enterprises and institutions and nearly 300,000 people have participated in the research and development.
Taking materials as an example, the application of new materials is an important aspect of the development and progress of aviation technology. The manufacturing of large civil aircraft involves composite materials, titanium alloys, high-strength steel, etc. The development of C919, and a variety of new materials are applied to civil aircraft on a large scale for the first time, which not only leads to a breakthrough in material technology, but also brings great demand to the material industry.
The successful development of C919 will provide more choices for airlines and customers, more opportunities for suppliers and partners, and further stimulate the healthy competition and innovation vitality of the global commercial aircraft industry.
The airworthiness certification is only the first step for C919 to be put into operation, and the subsequent industrialization will take a long time. Li Xiaojin said: "According to public data, there are about 50,000 transport aircraft in operation around the world, of which Boeing and Airbus each account for about 45%. In the future, C919 should also strive for the european aviation safety agency airworthiness certificate and the US Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness certificate in order to put it into commercial operation in more countries. " He said that there is still a gap between China and the world-class level in aero-engine manufacturing and avionics system design. Compared with automobile and other industries, the aviation manufacturing industry has the characteristics of high technology added value and low labor intensity, and there are certain technical barriers. The technology in many sub-sectors of the industrial chain still needs to achieve a breakthrough from 0 to 1.
Slow and steady, with unlimited potential, China Big Aircraft will write more wonderful stories.
