Chapter 234 Silver Crane
Chapter 234 Silver Crane
The next day, Aoying Flight Test Base.
Accompanied by the roar of the engine, a huge Y-20 transport plane slowly landed on the runway, and after taxiing, it finally stopped in the spacious hangar.
Li Xiangnan and Shen Ye, who were waiting in the hangar, couldn’t help but have a complicated expression when they thought of their next test flight mission.
On the one hand, their teammates were testing the top fighters, but they were tricked into testing rotorcraft, so they were definitely disappointed.
But on the other hand, the word “tilt-rotor aircraft” was both fresh and exciting to them.
It was fresh because there was no such aircraft in China at present, and
It was exciting because the Osprey’s reputation as the “Widow Maker”…
Just as the two were thinking about it, the front door of the Y-20 slowly opened. After Chen Hai stuck his head out to look outside, he signaled Kang Chi to get off first.
Kang Chi just came out and looked outside, and immediately saw an acquaintance in the most conspicuous position of the crowd: “Boss Cai? Why are you here too?”
”I was curious when I heard you say that on the phone. I happened to be nearby these days, so I came to see you.”
Cai Yaobin stepped forward enthusiastically and shook hands with Kang Chi: “Welcome, Boss Kang, to the Aoying Flight Test Base of the Chinese Air Force!”
In this occasion, Cai Yaobin’s address to Kang Chi also changed from Dr. Kang to Boss Kang.
However, in the military, the word “Boss” at the end has a different meaning from that of an ordinary boss. It is usually an abbreviation for leaders, chief engineers, and chief designers.
“Salute!”
”Welcome, Mr. Kang!”
After hearing the captain’s order, the test pilots and logistics personnel present immediately saluted Kang Chi formally, which made Kang Chi, who was not used to such occasions, feel a little pressure…
He quickly returned the salute, then nodded and said, “Thank you, everyone. I will trouble you in the next period of time.”
After hearing this, the soldiers immediately shouted in unison, “Guarantee to complete the mission!”
Kang Chi nodded. This well-trained feeling was indeed very different from the employees of his own company.
After a brief greeting, Cai Yaobin personally introduced two test pilots to Kang Chi: “This is Li Xiangnan, and this is his partner Shen Ye. They are both ace test pilots of this test flight brigade. Next, they will cooperate with Mr. Kang to complete the test mission of “Silver Crane”. ”
”Hello, Mr. Kang!” Li Xiangnan and Shen Ye quickly straightened their chests and greeted Kang Chi.
Looking at these two spirited young men of the same age, Kang Chi nodded to them with satisfaction.
Then, at Cai Yaobin’s suggestion, Deng Henghua also took the initiative to introduce himself: “I am the captain of the test flight team. If you need anything at the Aoying test flight base, you can always tell me.”
”Hello, Captain Deng.”
After the two sides got to know each other briefly, the next step was to unload the aircraft.
Including Cai Yaobin, what everyone was most looking forward to in this welcome ceremony was probably what the tilt-rotor aircraft built by Kang Chi looked like.
Under everyone’s eager eyes, the rear door of the Y-20 was slowly lowered, and the ‘Silver Crane’ loaded in the cabin finally appeared in front of everyone.
So beautiful! Everyone was suddenly amazed when they saw the shape of the Silver Crane.
Although the wings and propellers are folded down and backward like a resting bird, and its true appearance after spreading its wings cannot be seen, the smooth silver-gray fuselage looks like a work of art, full of high-tech beauty.
Is this the aircraft we are going to test fly? Seeing this Silver Crane, which is completely different from traditional helicopters in terms of shape and texture, Li Xiangnan was immediately filled with curiosity and expectation.
To be honest, most of China’s current helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft have a bit of “old-fashioned” shape, and neither the paint nor the design has the technological beauty of fighter jets.
The technological beauty of this Silver Crane is very different from the domineering and sharp J20. It belongs to the type that makes people feel light and elegant.
The name Silver Crane is indeed very appropriate.
Kangchi designed the Silver Crane like this, on the one hand, to conform to aerodynamics, and on the other hand, because the Silver Crane built by Kangchi is positioned for ordinary driving and exploring tilt-rotor technology, so both the endurance and load are relatively conservative, and there is no redundant functional module design.
OneOnce the preliminary test here confirms that the general direction is fine, Kang Chi plans to transport it back for upgrading, and then appropriately “castrate” the technologies that cannot be mass-produced for the time being, or do not want to spend proficiency points to analyze.
By that time, if there are other needs, it is entirely possible to design derivative styles based on the technology of Yinhe.
If you want stronger carrying capacity and range, you can further increase the fuselage, install more batteries and motors, and if you want higher speed and flexibility, you can reduce the fuselage.
This improvement should not be too difficult for Kang Chi.
After a brief appreciation of Yinhe, the logistics staff immediately stepped forward and began to untie the fixed ropes, and then slowly moved it down with the operating tools. Then Kang Chi took the initiative to step forward and began to explain and demonstrate the folding operation of Yinhe to the logistics staff.
The whole folding and stretching process is actually very simple and intelligent. Except for the propeller, which requires manual assistance, the rest only needs to execute instructions in the cab.
Seeing the wings of the Silver Crane fully unfolded, Cai Yaobin could not help but exclaim to Kang Chi who came down from the cockpit: “You are worthy of being Mr. Kang. I gave you a blueprint of the Z-20, and you actually built a tilt-rotor aircraft…”
And what’s even more exaggerated is that he only took more than a month!
Hearing Cai Yaobin’s praise, Kang Chi just smiled modestly and said: “I don’t know if it can fly yet.”
”With Mr. Kang, there will be no problem.” After Cai Yaobin flattered, he added, “It doesn’t matter if it can’t fly. Isn’t the test flight just to test if there are any problems with the aircraft? Others may not even be able to build a model in a month, not to mention that you built a real thing.”
The latter sentence was purely to find a way out for Kang Chi and himself in advance.
After the plane was placed, it was almost noon, so everyone went to the cafeteria to have lunch after the breakup. Then the logistics staff of the base arranged a room for Kang Chi. Cai Yaobin took a plane to an equipment manufacturing base in the northeast because he had something to do in the afternoon.
However, before leaving, he also emphasized that he would come back to visit the official test flight tomorrow. Kang Chi advised him not to do so, but Cai Yaobin did not listen at all. He just said a few perfunctory words and left…
After lunch break, Kang Chi returned to the hangar and began to explain the operation of this electric tilt-rotor aircraft to Li Xiangnan and others.
After more than two hours of explanation and cabin simulation, everyone began to have a preliminary understanding of this Silver Crane.
“This operation method… is it too simple?”
After the tutorial, Li Xiangnan couldn’t help but mutter: “Why does it feel like a toy plane…” ”Isn’t it good to be simple to operate?”
Kang Chi immediately smiled and explained: “Playing games only requires four keys, QWER, and professional players can also show off.”
”Besides, the current positioning of this Silver Crane is a passenger version and a verification aircraft for tilt-rotor technology. Simplicity and stability are the most important. Showing off the operation will be discussed later.”
After listening, Li Xiangnan felt that this was also the truth.
Many accidents that occurred when the U.S. developed the Osprey were actually caused by pilot operating errors, and this Silver Crane, in helicopter mode, is so simple to operate that it can be said that there is no room for pilot operating errors at all…
If something really happens, it must be a design problem of the aircraft itself.
So again,
It seems that an ace pilot is not needed at all to test this aircraft, right?
Even after seeing the stunning shape of the Silver Crane, Li Xiangnan still felt a little regretful for accepting this test flight mission.
However, since he had accepted it, he had to complete it even if he was reluctant.
So after completing the training, the two test pilots and Kang Chi began to formulate the next test tasks.
Kang Chi was more familiar with the aircraft he built, but when it came to testing the performance of the aircraft, Li Xiangnan and his team were more professional. They actively proposed many tests that Kang Chi had not thought of before.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Kang Chi came to the hangar where the Silver Crane was parked. At this time, Li Xiangnan and others were already inside to conduct a static inspection of the Silver Crane before the test.
After the static inspection, the two test pilots taxied the aircraft to the test site. At this time, the sky was blue, and there were white clouds with gold edges above the mountains in the distance. The weather was very suitable for preliminary testing.
Due to the special nature of this aircraft and the fact that most of the tests in the morning were small-scale visual tests, Kang Chi only communicated the test tasks with the tower in advance and then came to the test flight site in person to observe the test.Test.
Cai Yaobin also arrived as scheduled and sat at the test site with Kang Chi. There were several monitors in front of the two of them for close-up shots. Those who didn’t know might think that this was a director filming a movie…
A little further away, several fire trucks and ambulances were also on standby.
The first test link was to start the motor on the spot, observe the rotation of the motor and the rotor, then move the flaps and perform several posture changes from helicopter to fixed wing.
The whole process was relatively easy and not dangerous. It took only twenty minutes to complete.
”Pre-takeoff test is complete, and we are ready to conduct low-altitude takeoff and landing and hovering stability tests.”
”Received!”
As the motor speed began to rise, gusts of wind suddenly blew at the scene, and the buzzing sound of the propeller and air friction became louder and louder.
However, compared with traditional helicopters, the sound of electric helicopters is obviously several levels quieter. In the soundproof cockpit, the two test pilots even felt that the noise was less than driving a car.
It feels a bit like not flying a plane…
But in such a quiet environment, the plane really took off slowly. The strong sense of unreality even made them feel that they were simulating a flight without headphones.
In addition to being quiet, this Silver Crane is also very stable, without the vibration of a turboshaft engine.
Seeing this beautiful big guy really take off, and flying so smoothly, Cai Yaobin couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
No matter how the performance of this plane is, at least it didn’t slap him in the face, or rather, it didn’t slap Kang Chi in the face.
Low-altitude takeoff and landing, hovering stability, turning on the spot, small forward, backward, left and right movements, high-power rapid takeoff, takeoff and landing with a maximum load of 4 tons…
All morning, everyone was doing some simple tests on Yinhe, and Yinhe was very respectful to Kang Chi, and the overall performance was quite stable.
Especially in the high-power rapid takeoff test, when Li Xiangnan pushed the switch to the maximum, the whole aircraft was like a rocket, whooshing to a height of 50 meters.
This light and agile scene really surprised everyone.
They had never seen a manned helicopter that could move as fast and agile as a small electric model airplane.
The key is that its flying posture is very stable, and everything looks so calm and elegant…
After the test in the morning, Cai Yaobin couldn’t help but admire Kang Chi: “From the performance of Yinhe this morning, even as a helicopter, it is a bit amazing!”
”After all, it is electric.” Kang Chi explained with a smile, ”The biggest feature of electric is that the mechanical structure is relatively small, the response speed is fast, and the flight control system can automatically adjust the power of each motor in real time at high frequency.”
”If it is a fuel engine with a traditional mechanical structure, the system will issue so many complex and subtle adjustment instructions, which will not only make it difficult for the aircraft to execute and have high latency, but also prone to failure. Therefore, in terms of response speed, the two are actually not comparable.”
Cai Yaobin nodded: “That can only be achieved with the support of a powerful flight control system, motors and batteries… If this Yinhe can successfully complete the test, I think it is very likely to trigger a revolution and replacement of helicopters!”
Cai Yaobin’s assertion is not impossible.
After all, electric helicopters are much cheaper than traditional helicopters in terms of both manufacturing and operating costs.
The price of one ton of aviation kerosene is about 4500-7500 yuan. Assuming that the Z-20 needs 2 tons of aviation kerosene to fill its tank, the cost of flying it once is about more than 10,000 yuan.
And the Silver Crane only needs 3,000 kWh of electricity, which costs only a few hundred yuan.
In addition to the simplicity of the electric structure, its later maintenance cost and difficulty are also much lower than that of fuel helicopters with a lot of mechanical structures.
If the battery replacement technology of the aircraft can also keep up, the time for battery replacement is likely to be shorter than the time for refueling. In some emergency situations, the attendance rate of the aircraft can also be more frequent.
In this case, once the performance and stability of electric helicopters can be similar to those of traditional helicopters, it is almost inevitable to replace them.
It can only be said that the lithium battery with an energy density of 1200wh/kg is really too black technology. With its application and promotion in high-tech fields such as military, more and more products and equipment will definitely be eliminated.
In the afternoon, they conducted some extreme performance tests on the Yinhe helicopter, including its maximum flight altitude, speed, acceleration, etc., all the test results were the same as Kang Chi expected.
The next day, the highlight was finally about to begin.
This morning, the test will be the gliding takeoff and landing of the Silver Crane in a fixed-wing state, as well as the most concerned thing for everyone, the change of flight posture in the air! (End of this chapter)