The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 650: The First Flight of the J-11 Fighter

New Year’s Day!

morning!

The weather was clear and the sky was cloudless. It seemed that God had provided good weather for the first flight of the J-11 fighter jet.

Yesterday, a group of leaders and guests arrived at Guifei.

They were all so excited that they couldn't sleep.

When did China Aviation Industry become as powerful as it is today?
So many advanced aircraft models are being developed at the same time with such high efficiency. One after another, advanced military aircraft take off into the blue sky and join the troops, becoming the backbone of defending the motherland's airspace and territorial waters.

The J-10 fighter jets are still undergoing test flights and have not yet been officially put into service.

Now, the J-11 twin-engine heavy fighter is about to make its maiden flight.

New Year's Day is the first day of 1990.

However, this day is an extremely important day for the entire Chinese aviation industry, the Chinese Air Force and the Naval Aviation Force. The first flight of the J-11 fighter jet is undoubtedly a major milestone.

Everyone was wearing down jackets, waiting eagerly and chatting with each other.

Finally, at nine o'clock in the morning.

Three J-11 fighter prototypes were towed out of the hangar by three tractors.

Suddenly, both the leaders and guests attending the maiden flight ceremony and the workers of Guizhou Aviation Industry Corporation were excited.

The streamlined fuselage of the J-11 fighter is full of beauty, and the cockpit cover and radar cover are all eye-catching!
Not every leader and guest who came to attend the maiden flight ceremony also participated in the J-11 fighter jet's roll-off ceremony.

The feeling that the J-11 fighter gives people is extremely beautiful, full of power and domineering!
This made everyone unable to help but applaud and gave their applause to the J-11 fighter jet.

The people who carried out the first flight mission of the J-11 were Ge Shun, Wang Guomin and Wei Bingyan!

The three men saluted Liu Tao and his team, took an oath, then turned around and strode towards the J-11 fighter jets. They boarded the 01 prototype, 02 prototype, and 03 prototype respectively!
Under the gaze of everyone, they inspected the plane around a circle, and then handed over the plane to the ground crew. The three test pilots then gave everyone a thumbs up, and then resolutely stepped onto the plane's gangway and entered the cockpit.

They carried out an inspection inside the cabin, and after finding no problems, they started the power. The powerful roar of the engine made people feel excited.

Ge Shun requested to take off, and after receiving the approval notice, he started the engine of the 01 prototype.

In this test flight, prototype 01 will be tested first. After prototype 01 returns safely, prototypes 02 and 03 will be tested one after another.

At this time, all the equipment showed normal conditions. Ge Shun made a report and after obtaining approval, he began to drive the 01 prototype away from the apron and towards the runway. After entering the runway, as the brakes were released, the 01 prototype seemed to have gathered all its strength and flew out directly at a terrifying speed.

As the car slid quickly, everyone couldn't help but feel nervous.

During the maiden flight, the take-off phase is the most dangerous and also the stage where accidents are most likely to occur.

Once it takes off successfully, the entire maiden flight is half successful.

When it was ready to take off, Ge Shun pulled the joystick and the J-11 fighter took off directly. The takeoff was very stable and smooth. Then the J-11 fighter began to climb rapidly and soon disappeared from everyone's sight. At this time, everyone finally couldn't help but cheer and applaud. There was warm applause at the scene.

After flying for 30 minutes, the J-11 fighter jet flew back under the control of Ge Shun and appeared in everyone's sight.

Under the guidance of the command center, the 01 prototype slowly aligned with the runway and began to slide down. This was also the most critical part of the maiden flight.

Because takeoff and landing are the most risky during the first flight!

As long as the landing is successful, the J-11 fighter will have successfully completed its maiden flight mission today!
When seeing the J-11 fighter jet landing smoothly and gracefully, decelerating rapidly on the runway, and finally taxiing smoothly to the parking area, the applause and cheers from the audience immediately reached their highest point.

Ge Shun shut down the engine, turned off the power, and got out of the cockpit of the plane. The people who swarmed around him enthusiastically tossed him up as a hero.

After waiting, two primary school students held flowers and presented them to Ge Shun.

The maiden flight ceremony has ended, but the maiden flight ceremony is not over yet.

Because prototype 02 and prototype 03 also started moving, there was a difference of 5 minutes between the two prototypes.

One after another, they rushed into the blue sky!

Half an hour later, prototype 02 and prototype 03 flew back one after another and landed smoothly.

It was at this time that Liu Tao officially announced that the first flight of the J-11 fighter jet was a complete success.

Liu Tao and others walked towards the three test pilots, shook hands with them and saluted them!

Everyone knows that test pilots are the people closest to death in peacetime.

Flight testing is a systematic project that integrates science, engineering and risk. Before the test flight of a new aircraft, there is no flight test data, almost a blank sheet of paper. To find out the limits of the new aircraft and fill in various performance parameters for the new aircraft, not only does it require test pilots to be able to "survive in desperate situations" when encountering sudden dangers and calmly handle them to successfully escape danger, but they also need to take the initiative to break through safety boundaries, take risks and challenge the limits, and "live towards death" again and again.

The design performance of an aircraft is often different from its actual performance.

It is also possible that there were problems when the aircraft was designed, or there were no problems with the aircraft design but problems existed during the manufacturing process. These need to be discovered during test flights, and sometimes these problems can lead to huge dangers.

In the past few decades, Chinese test pilots have experienced at least thousands of dangerous situations during the test flight stage. Some of them were overcome, some of them were directly hit and exploded when they were about to land, some planes failed to take off and crashed, and some birds flew into the engine and caused engine accidents.
The number of test pilots who have sacrificed their lives has already exceeded 20!
The test pilots who died were the Chinese pilots who sacrificed the most since the end of the Korean War!

And now, completing the first flight of a new type of aircraft is the most glorious moment for every test pilot.

The first flight of the J-11 fighter jet was a complete success. Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation prepared delicacies from land and river, fine wines and delicious food for a grand celebration, and everyone ate and drank to their heart's content.

On the second day, a celebration meeting was held. Ge Shun was awarded first-class merit for his work in three days, and was awarded the first-class military medal and the "First-Class Meritorious Service" plaque. He was also awarded the title of "Heroic Test Pilot" of Southwest Aviation Industry.

In addition to spiritual rewards, there are naturally tangible material rewards.

Although test pilots do not care about material rewards, the group must give commendations so that the lives of test pilots are improved and their family lives are improved.

Test pilots are risking their lives, so we certainly cannot let their efforts be disproportionate to their rewards, or make their family life difficult.

(End of this chapter)