The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

What is the difference between a test pilot and a pilot for a civilian aircraft?

The main task of a pilot in an airline company is to fly, but for a test pilot, flying is only a small part of the job. A lot of the other time they also need to participate in studying regulations, formulating test flight plans, and verifying flight data.

The pilot needs to fly the plane smoothly and safely, while the test pilot needs to fly the plane to its limit. Although there is only one letter difference between the two, these are the two extremes of aviation driving.

The pilots fly a maturely designed aircraft, while the test pilots fly an aircraft that has not yet been finalized and requires comprehensive verification of flight data under various extreme conditions. The danger is self-evident.

Just like shooting, for a pilot, the closer to the center of the target the better the flying skills. But for a test pilot, sometimes the task is to fly outside the circle.

“Outside the circle” is the danger zone.

For example, when an airplane stalls, it is like "a hand is holding you up, but suddenly that hand is gone". The airplane will lose control and go into a spiral. If you cannot correct it, the consequences will be disastrous. Pilots will never encounter this situation in their entire careers, because there will be many alarms before the stall point, but for test pilots, this is a compulsory course. There are also minimum takeoff speed, minimum control speed, equipment failure simulation, etc. For the safety of passengers, these must be tested one by one.

For the civil aircraft industry, without a mature test flight team, the large aircraft development chain will be incomplete.

To become an important link in the industrial chain is the mission of the Flight Test Academy.

At the flight test academy, aerodynamics, aircraft performance, flight mechanics, flight control systems, structural integrity, engine theory, aircraft system theory, etc. are just basic theoretical training courses.

An excellent civil aircraft test pilot needs to master a lot of theoretical knowledge and receive a lot of training.

An excellent civil aircraft test pilot must be an excellent captain, but an excellent captain is not necessarily an excellent civil aircraft test pilot.

To become a test pilot, one must not only have a firm belief and love for the domestic large aircraft industry, but also have good psychological quality, physical fitness, superb driving skills, and the spirit of knowing when to retreat and facing challenges head-on.

For this reason, the Flight Test Academy has extremely strict requirements for the selection and training of test pilots.

For example, the C919 large passenger aircraft project has hundreds of test and flight subjects, many of which are difficult and high-risk flights!
As the most powerful test flight academy in China today, it has the largest number of test pilots, the strongest team, and the best treatment.

This is true whether you are a military aircraft test pilot or a civilian aircraft test pilot.

Liu Tao watched the first flight crew enter the cockpit with respect in his eyes, because every test pilot is a brave man of mankind.

The success of an airplane is absolutely inseparable from the test pilots risking their lives, which is truly a matter of life and death.

In the entire Panshan Group system, the treatment of test pilots is generally much higher than that of pilots.

This is because of the uniqueness and importance of test pilots!
Although the C929 is just an advanced model of the C919 and is the same in many aspects, as a brand-new aircraft, no one knows what hidden dangers exist before it takes off. Perhaps one of the hidden dangers is enough to destroy the entire aircraft and cause death to people.

Even though Panshan Group has established a strict and complete quality system from the very beginning and has fully controlled the quality of its products, after all, products are produced by people, and errors are inevitable. All systems are implemented by people, and no matter how well they are implemented, they can only reduce the risk but cannot eliminate the hidden dangers.

Under the expectant and worried eyes of everyone, the huge C929 aircraft taxied for a while, then its nose began to rise, the front wheels left the ground, then slowly rose, and finally the rear wheels also left the ground.

Take off, very smooth!

Just like a mature model.

Many people couldn't help but applaud and cheer. At this step, the plane took off smoothly, which meant that the first flight was halfway completed.

The next step is to see if it can land smoothly.

About half an hour later, the C929 finally appeared in everyone's sight. The C929 continued to descend in altitude, and then landed on the runway very gracefully and taxied on the runway. After taxiing for a distance, the speed of the C929 had slowed down very much, and the crew stopped the C929 on the apron.

At this moment, everyone finally applauded and cheered.

When the five crew members got off the plane, they were greeted with applause and flowers.

Even Liu Tao couldn't help but applaud.

Because this time the C929's maiden flight was completed very beautifully.

The head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China could not help but say happily: "Leader, with the C929, we will no longer need to import Boeing or Airbus in ten years. Our domestically produced large aircraft are more than enough to meet our air transport needs!"

Liu Tao smiled and didn't say much.

Up to now, China has long been the largest market for civil aviation passenger aircraft. With the rapid development of China's civil aviation, more and more people will choose to travel by plane, which has also led to a rapid increase in the demand for passenger aircraft in China.

Even China's own passenger aircraft cannot meet this kind of growth.

Of course, up to now, there is no need to import Boeing and Airbus aircraft for regional jets and domestic trunk jets. China's own production is sufficient to meet the needs. The aircraft imported from Boeing and Airbus are mostly intercontinental flights.

The last time China imported medium-range aircraft from Boeing and Airbus was to obtain European and North American airworthiness certificates for the C919.

This can also be considered a transaction. Europe and the United States obtained an order, which is equivalent to a bribe. Then the C919 obtained the European airworthiness certificate and the North American airworthiness certificate, and the aircraft can fly to Europe and North America.

Under the current situation, C929 will also adopt the same strategy, which is to spend money to buy Boeing and Airbus aircraft, and then exchange them for North American airworthiness certificates and European airworthiness certificates, so that intercontinental flights can fly to Europe and the United States.

This is the first-mover advantage.

But it won't be long before this situation is gone forever!
"Your Civil Aviation Administration must grasp the overall situation and let all civil aviation companies understand the general situation and support more domestically produced aircraft!" said Liu Tao.

Liu Tao, this can be considered a warning!
Not long ago, a domestic civil aviation company spent a high price to purchase ten Boeing 737s, which was simply outrageous.

Today, the Boeing 737 is no longer considered an advanced product, and its price is even higher than the international market price.

The head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China was nervous and said quickly: "Please rest assured, leaders, we will definitely grasp the overall situation and will not let a bad apple spoil the whole barrel!"

The head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China knew what Liu Tao meant, which made him very angry. The people under him were simply disorganized and undisciplined!

Although the Civil Aviation Administration has never issued any documents or said anything in public meetings, some hints have never ceased, but I didn’t expect that someone would still commit crimes against the wind. (End of this chapter)