On September 21, 2012, after the demonstration test of ARJ21-700 aircraft emergency evacuation from the ground was completed, the staff took a group photo as a souvenir. Photo courtesy of China Commercial Aircraft ARJ21 Project Management Department
"The purely China-made ARJ21-700 aircraft made its first commercial flight today" and "Domestic regional aircraft ARJ21-700 put into commercial operation" & HELIP; … On June 28th, 2016, the ARJ21-700 aircraft was put into operation for the first time, which was the first jet regional aircraft with independent intellectual property rights developed in strict accordance with international airworthiness regulations. It is no longer a dream to let domestic regional aircraft soar in the blue sky, and the ARJ21-700 aircraft has truly realized "Made in China".
It has been 14 years since the establishment of the ARJ21-700 aircraft in 2002. Many people don’t know that there is such a young team behind the ARJ21-700 aircraft that shocked and made the world proud. They have been fighting for the civil aircraft industry in China for 14 years, unswervingly and never wavering. They are the ARJ21 Aircraft Project Management Department of Comac Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as ARJ21 Project Department).
As the engineering management department of the new regional aircraft project, the ARJ21 project department has 18 staff members, including 13 young employees, who are the backbone of the department and have made painstaking efforts for the successful development of this aircraft. "Capable and efficient, able to chew hard bones" is their positioning for themselves.
The road to obtaining evidence is difficult to overcome. "A thousand threads" in the sky penetrate into "a needle" on the ground.
"Since the establishment of the ARJ21-700 aircraft in 2002, the number of designers has increased from more than 700 to more than 2,000 now; Office space from a simple building to today’s research and development center of more than 1200 acres; The management system of civil aircraft development has gone from lack to basic perfection; Civil aircraft development team construction and system construction from scratch; The model has been developed from a single ARJ21 aircraft to a parallel C919 aircraft, with branch lines and trunk lines developed at the same time, which shows that China’s civil aircraft industry has been paid more and more attention by the state … …” Chen Xinghua of ARJ21 Project Department tells about the changes in the past 14 years.
In April 2006, the project changed from detailed design to full-scale trial production; On December 21, 2007, the first ARJ21-700 aircraft was assembled and rolled off the assembly line in Shanghai, and successfully made its first flight on November 28, 2008. In Chen Xinghua’s view, this marks that the domestic aircraft has finally changed from a grand blueprint to a beautiful reality.
"When the plane began to taxi, from low speed to high speed, when the landing gear of the plane was lifted, the plane took off, and the heart hanging in the throat suddenly landed. Our plane flew, and it was really exciting at that time." Wang Fei, director of ARJ21 Project Department, recalled.
After completing the first flight, the ARJ21 project still faces a lot of tedious airworthiness verification work. In 2014, it was a critical period for the ARJ21 project to obtain evidence (type certificate awarded by the Civil Aviation Administration of China), and it was also a bottleneck period for technical research and test flight. "The evidence collection work of the ARJ21 project has entered the countdown, involving all aspects of the project development work. It can be said that there are thousands of lines in the sky and a needle on the ground." Wang Fei said.
How to thread "a thousand threads" into "a needle"? Under the leadership of Wang Fei, members of the ARJ21 Project Department seized the main line of seaworthiness clause closure, decomposed the whole task of evidence collection, sorted out 4,798 side tasks, implemented responsibilities layer by layer, kept a close eye on the whole task, and put each "line" in a down-to-earth manner.
Two days before obtaining evidence, Wang Fei participated in the ARJ21-700 flight experience. "I accompanied the model engineers to board the ARJ21 new turbofan regional aircraft that I participated in the development and worked hard for for ten years. I was so excited! Excited! I feel extremely proud and proud! When it is delivered for operation next year, friends and family can travel with confidence! " This is not only the voice of Wang Fei, but also the voice of everyone in the ARJ21 project department.
The ARJ21 project department has been adhering to the concept of "all around evidence collection, all for evidence collection and all services for evidence collection", and finally completed the long flight test for six years on December 30, 2014 and won the type certificate, which means that China’s first jet regional aircraft has taken a solid step towards the delivery and operation, and obtained the "admission ticket" to participate in civil air transport activities.
The first plane was successfully delivered during the delivery trip.
"With the success of ARJ21-700, I have also become an engineer with multiple tasks from a young boy who just entered the company." Liu Wenfeng witnessed the growth of ARJ21-700, and so did ARJ21-700.
In 2015, the ARJ21-700 aircraft launched a route demonstration flight, and Liu Wenfeng organized hundreds of employees of the flight academy to have a boarding experience. "From the pre-event planning, to the personnel statistics, to the final boarding of personnel, I seriously considered every detail."
It is Liu Wenfeng’s wish to let as many people as possible participate in the experience and let ordinary designers take the plane designed by themselves. "After the event, listening to all kinds of good news from everyone’s mouth, all the hard work has vanished. After many years, I will still feel excited when I think of this event."
Before every major milestone, the ARJ21 project department is the busiest time, and before delivery, it is no exception. Liu Wenfeng told reporters, "It is very common for us to work overtime all night. Many people stay up all night for several days, taking the office as their home and eating and living in the unit until the problem is completely solved."
For a long time, the ARJ21 project department implemented the 611 working system. The so-called 611 working system is a high-intensity working mode of working 6 days a week and 11 hours a day, and sometimes even 711.
"Every day’s work seems to be in ‘ Fight ’ It is tense and challenging. Although it is hard, it is worthwhile to watch the ARJ21 aircraft succeed step by step. " Huang Erli of ARJ21 Project Department said.
On November 29th, 2015, the ARJ21-700 aircraft was officially delivered to Chengdu Airlines, which indicated that China had completed the whole process of jet regional aircraft design, trial production, test flight, evidence collection, production and delivery, and had the capability of developing jet regional aircraft and airworthiness certification.
Do not forget your initiative mind continues to build domestic aircraft business cards.
On June 28th, 2016, the commercial operation of ARJ21-700 aircraft marked that the first jet regional aircraft independently developed by China officially stood on the stage of civil aviation market. This is a wonderful turn from dream to reality, which means a new starting point.
Regarding the next step, Wang Fei said that the ARJ21 project department will organize a comprehensive design optimization to further improve the flight performance and ride comfort of the aircraft, and comprehensively enhance the market competitiveness of the aircraft, and carry out serial development according to the diversified needs of customers.
"We hope that the ARJ21-700 aircraft will become an aircraft that airlines love to buy, pilots and crew love to fly, and passengers love to sit."
"We hope that the ARJ21 plane will fly better and better in the blue sky of the motherland and fly to all parts of the world to provide safe, convenient and comfortable services for everyone’s travel."
"We hope that the domestic civil aircraft industry can lead the development of the country’s high-end equipment manufacturing industry, promote the common prosperity of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and make new and greater contributions to the transformation and upgrading of the national economy."
"We will make China’s civil aircraft industry bigger and stronger, and jointly explore the blue ocean of the civil aviation market with international civil aircraft giants."
… …
In 2014, when General Secretary of the Supreme Leader inspected China Commercial Aircraft Corporation, he said, "China’s aircraft manufacturing industry has gone through a difficult, bumpy and tortuous course, and now it is stepping from scratch, with a good momentum and a good start. I hope you will persevere and be down-to-earth. I have high hopes for you." He told the person in charge of the enterprise: "China’s large aircraft industry has taken another step in the long March, and we must have our own large aircraft."
"Driven by the spirit of the important speech of the Supreme Leader General Secretary, the aircraft independently developed by China has become a new business card that highlights the strength of China’s equipment manufacturing." This is not only the belief of Comac in China, but also the expectation of all China people for domestic large aircraft. (China Youth Network trainee reporter Bai Mengfan)