China’s largest air balloon aircraft is about to operate

Zhang Lixian, expert at the Special Aircraft Research Institute, a branch of the Chinese Aviation Industry Group (AVIC) in Kinh Mon City, Hubei Province, on January 23, the Institute received the Institute. Certain orders for 23 AS700 and temporary orders for 164 other units. The first customer will be the Gang Tay Fat Company Que Lam Fangzhou.

“We started producing AS700 small scale. The first one is expected to be delivered to Quang Tay Que Lam Fangzhou Company around October and will be used to sightsee in the air,” Zhang said.

Zhang added that pilot training programs for balloon aircraft will start soon. “There are very few pilots in China who used to drive a balloon aircraft because there is almost no balloon aircraft operations with any domestic drivers,” he said.

Aircraft Research Institute, especially the only state research agency in China, designs and produces air balloon aircraft. Since the mid -1980s, the Institute has developed many different models and no driver. One of the Hoc Hoc air balloon, FK-4, participated in the Asian Games in the Asia Games in 1990.

Trade activities of balloon aircraft have not developed in China due to factors such as high and low space are tightly controlled and the market demand is limited. The situation began to change in recent years when the Chinese government sought to exploit the market potential of high and low space.

AS700 began to be developed in August 2018 to meet the air tournament. Equipped with a piston engine, this aircraft has a maximum takeoff of 4.15 tons, a maximum speed of 100 km/h and can fly up to 3.1 km high. It can carry a pilot and 9 passengers, a maximum flight range 700 km and maintain the aerial state in 10 hours.

After many test flights, the AS700 was granted a certificate from the Chinese Civil Aviation Department in December 2023, becoming the first drivers in China to be certified in China. In addition to tourism, this vehicle is also suitable for many other civil applications such as mineral exploration, marine supervision, police patrol, freight and emergency rescue.