The AG600 Kunlong amphibious aircraft built by AVIC did not fly at the recent Zhuhai show, but at least it was parked in the static display. The huge turboprop made its first flight on December 24, 2017 from Zhuhai where it was built and carried out its first water landing on October 20, 2018 at Jingmen’s Zhange Reservoir.
According to one source the certification process is expected to last until 2022. One of its roles will be aerial fire-fighting with a capacity of 12,000kg (26,455lbs) of water in four separate tanks of 3,000kg (6,614lbs) each. The whole load could be collected within 20 seconds, and dropped within ten seconds.
The Kun Dragon as it is literally known, houses a 15,000kg (33,000lbs) fuel tank, giving a range of up to 1,600kms (1,000 miles). According to the same sources, the aircraft, powered by four WJ-6 turboprop engines, has flown around 50 times so far.
To date, two groups of three-man crews (two pilots and a mechanic) have visited the International Test Pilot School at Ontario, Canada, to train on the HU-16 Albatross.
Alan Warnes
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