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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42471045
The world's largest amphibious aircraft, China's AG600, has made a successful one-hour maiden flight.
The plane, roughly the size of a Boeing 737 but with four turboprop engines, lifted off from Zhuhai airport in the southern province of Guangdong.
The plane can carry 50 people and can stay airborne for 12 hours.
It has firefighting and marine rescue duties but also military applications, which could be put to use in the disputed South China Sea region. The AG600, codenamed Kunlong, can reach the southernmost edge of China's territorial claims in the area.
State media Xinhua described the plane as "protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs".
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World's Largest Amphibious Plane in Production Takes Flight in China
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Grelb's Reminder:
Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
average drivers.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25 2017, @07:38PM (7 children)
Only in a planned economy could it make sense to build a flying boat -- 50 years after the British scrapped their last big one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_Princess [wikipedia.org]
A total of three were built and the last one was scrapped in 1967 -- 50 years ago. Based on comments seen in a few places, the era of the flying boat ended after WWII when there were many more good runways all over the world.
I suppose it's possible that the South China Sea is still short on runways?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 25 2017, @07:51PM (5 children)
Well, there are still a few advantages to a flying boat. Search and rescue, for instance. Helicopters may not have the range, and other aircraft are unable to land. If an aircraft does locate the missing persons in the water, then everyone has to wait for a slow-assed ship to arrive. The flying boat can just land, and offer immediate assistance. Or, if the boat wasn't the one to sight the missing persons first, it can fly to that spot pretty quickly and land. Or, fly there and water, I guess.
Being able to use the biggest landing strip in the world can't be a "bad thing".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25 2017, @09:55PM (1 child)
Except that you can't because sea state is usually too high. We needn't go into the corrosion problems.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 25 2017, @10:07PM
Yes, you needn't go into corrosion problems. Solved problem long ago.
http://www.aluminum.org/sites/default/files/Aluminum_at_Sea.pdf [aluminum.org]
What do you think they make aircraft floats out of?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 25 2017, @10:40PM
I bet the british wish they had a fleet of these when the Falklands war broke out.
Even if they needed air refueling, they could have put 40 full combat equipped SAS troops on any beach on the island.
As it was, the British had to bomb the only suitable airfield just to keep the Argentinians from using it.
One wonders if there isn't a military role for such craft that is poo-pooed simply because it seems there is an excess of big airfields around the world. Trouble is, it only takes a few parked cars and trucks to make airfields unusable. And every casual observer knows exactly where you have to land troops.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by deadstick on Monday December 25 2017, @10:42PM (1 child)
Not all that big. A seaplane can be landed on the open sea, but it's strictly an emergency procedure, even with the largest ones. For normal operation you need protected water.
Historical example: The survivors of the USS Indianapolis sinking were spotted by a landplane, which dropped a few supplies and directed a PBY seaplane to the site. It landed, but had no chance of taking off, instead acting as a big life raft until a surface ship could get there. The airplane was then sunk by gunfire.
There were exceptions: WW2 battleships were equipped with small seaplanes that could be catapulted off the stern for reconnaissance. On their return, the ship would make a hard, high-speed turn and sweep out a patch of relatively calm water for them to land on. Didn't see much use in wartime, having been supplanted by carrier-based aircraft.
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @03:20AM
I think the idea is to create more artificial harbors in the South China Sea.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25 2017, @10:54PM
When I lived in South Florida in the late 1970s, Chalk's Airlines [wikipedia.org] used Biscayne Bay[1] for takeoffs/landings.
ISTM that that avoided the cost of landing fees at MIA|Lauderdale|whatever.
(Mostly, they traveled to the Bahamas; during Prohibition, they were rum runners.)
That operation got its license yanked in 2007.
At the time, it was the oldest still-operating airline (since 1917).
[1] Not really a bay; a strait between the offshore islands and the mainland.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]