Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1138 The Problem is Big (Two chapters today, one more before o'clock)
Speaking of this, Gao Zhendong has something to say. This Triangle Aircraft Company is also a weakling. Perhaps it has not yet come out of the illusion of the old colonial empire. Simply put, its service awareness is not in place. When they considered the relevant indicators of Mercury 100, they only considered the old European paupers that were about to go bankrupt, but did not consider the needs of other countries at all.

To put it simply, in terms of distance, the much-hyped "hybrids of the six old European countries" and the like are just relatives of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia in our eyes. In terms of geography, they have not even left the liberated areas when we fought the Japanese invaders.

Are you mixed blood? Yes.

So the flying distance that the Gauls thought was sufficient was not enough in the eyes of other countries outside Europe!

This is the biggest weakness of Mercury 100 and the most fundamental reason for its failure.

Not to mention Asia, a continent with vast landmass and a large number of archipelagos, even if it were placed in Africa and South America, the range of Mercury 100 would be stretched.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be only 10 orders for this aircraft from the Gauls themselves, and not a single one would be sold to Africa. You have to know that in the 60s and 70s, the Gauls' influence in Africa was at its peak. If the goods were not so rotten, Africa would not have been so poor that it would not have been unable to sell a single one.

What now appeared in Gao Zhendong's eyes was an early planned model of Mercury 100. They were both produced by Delta Aircraft Company and were in the same historical stage. How big could the difference be between them?

However, Gao Zhendong is quite satisfied with Triangle's Mercury 100. Except for the range issue, all other issues of this aircraft are not a problem.

Although only 10 aircraft were produced, which is not enough for the production line to mature, no major accidents have ever occurred during the service of these 10 aircraft, and the safety aspect is still quite good.

The total flight time is 360000 hours, 440000 flights have been completed, 4400 million passengers have been transported, and there have been no major problems. From this perspective, it is still good.

With this foundation, and the fact that the aircraft had taken many economic considerations into account from the beginning, Gao Zhendong believed that the remaining problems were not a big deal.

As we all know, whether an aircraft flies safely or not largely depends on maintenance and rules. In this regard, Gao Zhendong still believes in the country's capabilities.

For aircraft and ships with the same service life and similar mileage, ours just look much cleaner than others. No matter if they are shiny on the outside like horse manure balls, at least they are much better than those that are not even shiny on the outside.

According to rumors, our airline's retired second-hand aircraft are in great demand in the international second-hand market. The reason for this is simply that they are in good condition.

With these foundations, Gao Zhendong believes that Mercury 100 is not that bad after all, as long as its biggest problem can be reversed.

"Well, let me take a look..." Gao Zhendong pretended to look through Triangle Company's plans for regional jets.

After a long time, Gao Zhendong put down the document.

"I have three core opinions about the aircraft planned by the Gauls."

"Core opinions"--before the leaders of the National Defense Work Committee or Chief Engineer You of the Civil Aviation Commission--when they heard this word, their attention was drawn to the top.

The leaders of the Defense Work Committee rarely heard Gao Zhendong use such words.

As for Chief Engineer You, even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs walk, so he usually raised the height to the "core", and that was a big deal.

"Please go ahead." Chief Engineer You picked up the pen again.

"First of all, the range of this plane is too short..."

"It's short, 1700 kilometers, which is enough to fly from Beijing to Songjiang..." said Chief Engineer You.

The distance from Beijing to Songjiang is almost the most important transportation route at present. When considering related issues, it is inevitable to use this distance as a criterion.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "But we not only need to fly from Beijing to Songjiang, but also need to consider flying from Beijing to the Northeast, Western Xinjiang, Plateau, Southwest, and Southeast. Let's put it this way, the 1700-kilometer flight distance is not enough for us to fly all over the country from any city, even if we add one more takeoff and landing. This is a great challenge to the economy of the aircraft. We all know that the flight process of the aircraft at medium and low altitudes consumes more fuel than flying at high altitudes."

Seeing that his comrades were thinking deeply, Gao Zhendong added: "At least this plane should be able to take off from the transportation centers planned in various regions of our country and basically fly all over the country. For example, starting from Shuangqing and Rongcheng, it is more than 1700 kilometers to the Northeast and Western Xinjiang, which is far beyond the planned -kilometer range. Even from Beijing to Songjiang, this range is not enough."

The leader of the Defense Work Committee was somewhat puzzled by this: "The distance from Beijing to Songjiang is only about 1000 kilometers, right?"

Chief Engineer You has an idea about this: "It may not be enough. In addition to the flight fuel, civil airliners also need to carry fuel for landing operations and emergency landings. The number of 1700 kilometers is enough, but it is not certain how much it is enough."

Speaking of this, he really admired Gao Zhendong's broad knowledge and extensive reading. After all, being familiar with air force aircraft, the aerodynamic layout of aircraft, etc., cannot be equated with being familiar with the operating procedures of civil aviation aircraft.

Air force planes don't need to wait too much to return to the base, but civil aircraft are different. In busy airports, limited weather conditions, even normal landing aircraft need to carry a certain amount of fuel to cope with the flight process of waiting, circling, and dispatching in the air. If they encounter an emergency landing, they need more fuel. There are not many outsiders who know these details these days. But what Chief Engineer Gao said just now shows that he is very familiar with the basic operation of civil aircraft. Otherwise, he would never say that a 1700-kilometer range is not enough to cope with a 1000-kilometer distance.

Only an expert can say such things.

Gao Zhendong nodded repeatedly in response to You Zonggong's supplementary remarks: "Yes, whether it is Gaul or Europe, when they plan routes based on countries, they think... a little bit small."

These words had a strong yin-yang connotation, and the comrades all laughed.

"How much do you think is appropriate?"

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment and said, "More than 3000 kilometers. The key is that only with this target can we sell it to places other than Europe. I dare say that if we insist on the 1700-kilometer target, this aircraft will not even be sold in Europe."

"Aren't European countries small?"

"But European countries also have to consider international routes, and they need to consider more. After all, they are not in their own country. There is no national consideration in the planning and arrangement of routes and airports, and they may encounter more troubles."

"Hmm... that makes sense... Chief Engineer Gao, what range do you think is appropriate?"

Gao Zhendong thought without hesitation: "I am not familiar with this area, and the comrades in the civil aviation industry know more about it. But if I follow my own thinking, it should be more than 3200 kilometers, at least this much."

Gao Zhendong himself did not calculate this indicator, he copied it. Yes, he copied it from the 737-100, a plane with a range slightly less than 3200 kilometers.

Boeing these days has not yet been taken over by McDonnell Douglas, so their decisions are still trustworthy, at least there won't be too many problems.

Several comrades calculated in their minds for a long time and felt that the number was really good. It could really realize the plan that Gao Zhendong had just mentioned, and fly directly from any planned transportation center in any region to major cities across the country.

This is not "I don't really understand" at all, that's just being too modest.

"Well, Chief Engineer Gao, we will reflect this matter to the Gauls as a core demand. If they don't change, we will not agree."

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "It doesn't have to be like this. This is related to the second question I want to talk about."

"Is there a solution?" Chief Engineer You was very happy. After all, more paths mean a greater possibility of success.

"Maybe. The second point I want to make is about the structure. In the plan, they were too rigid about the structure, which caused the aircraft to lose all its potential and room for modification. Let's put it this way. If this aircraft is made according to the current planning proposal, then if you want to modify it to a model with a range of more than 3000 kilometers, the cost will be very high, so high that it cannot be borne by minor repairs within the same model."

This is the second problem with Mercury 100: its structure is too rigid.

There are rumors that the Mercury 100 could not be modified into a longer-range model because its structure was too rigid, but this statement is actually not quite accurate.

To be precise, the Delta Aircraft Company later realized the biggest problem with the Mercury 100 and wanted to modify it into the Mercury 3000C with a range of over 200 kilometers. However, they found that because the structure was too rigid, the fuel tank had to be modified, and it was a major operation. They couldn't even get the money for research, so they eventually gave up.

In other words, it is not impossible to change it, but it is too expensive.

Chief Engineer You was not familiar with this aspect. After all, the only real experience China had with passenger aircraft was the immature "Beijing No. 1", a small aircraft with a smaller passenger capacity than the Falcon-20, so he did not understand these technical details very well.

You asked the right person! This was the only thought in Chief Engineer You's mind at this moment.

If it were anyone else, there would be no way they could find such a major deficiency of the aircraft from such a simple planning document. To put it bluntly, there are only a few people in China who can understand the structure of an aircraft.

Especially an unfamiliar plane.

"Then what is your suggestion?"

"I suggest that even if we have to sacrifice a little economy, we should leave enough margin in the structure to leave room for improvement and expansion. Economy is important, but it is not the only thing. If even lengthening the fuselage or enlarging the fuel tank requires major surgery on the aircraft structure, then the upper limit of the aircraft will be determined. If the other party insists on a range of 1700 kilometers and refuses to accept any changes, then we must insist on leaving enough margin in the structure!"

(End of this chapter)