Technological power starts with upgrading lenses

The next day, Aoying test flight base.

Accompanied by the roar of the engine, a large Y-20 transport aircraft slowly landed on the runway. After taxiing, it finally parked in the spacious hangar.

Li Xiangnan and Shen Ye, who were on standby in the hangar, couldn't help but have complicated expressions when thinking about their upcoming test flight mission.

On the one hand, teammates are testing top-notch fighter aircraft, but they are tricked into testing rotorcraft. There must be some disappointment.

But on the other hand, the term ‘tilt rotor’ is also new and exciting to them.

It’s new because there is currently no such aircraft in China.

The excitement comes from Osprey’s reputation as the ‘widowmaker’…

Just as the two were thinking, the front hatch of the Yun-20 slowly opened. After Chen Hai poked his head out and looked outside, he motioned for Kang Chi to come down first.

Kang Chi just came out and took a look outside, and immediately saw an acquaintance in the most conspicuous position of the crowd: "Mr. Cai? Why are you here too?"

"I heard what you said on the phone, and I was quite curious. I happened to be nearby these days, so I stopped by to take a look."

Cai Yaobin stepped forward enthusiastically and shook Kang Chi's hand: "Welcome Mr. Kang to the Chinese Air Force Soaring Eagle Test Flight Base!"

On this occasion, Cai Yaobin's name for Kang Chi changed from Dr. Kang to Mr. Kang.

However, in the army, the word "general" followed by "general" has a different meaning from that of ordinary boss. It is usually the abbreviation for leader, chief engineer, and chief designer.

"salute!"

"Welcome Mr. Kang!"

The test pilots and logistics personnel present immediately gave Kang Chi a formal military salute after hearing the captain's order. Kang Chi, who was not used to such occasions, couldn't help but feel a little pressure...

He quickly returned the greeting, 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: "Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

Kang Chi nodded. This feeling of being well-trained is indeed very different from the employees of his own company.

After a brief meeting, Cai Yaobin personally introduced the two test pilots to Kang Chi: "This is Li Xiangnan, and this is his partner Shen Ye. They are both the ace test pilots of this test flight brigade. It will be up to them next Come and cooperate with Mr. Kang to complete the test mission of 'Yinhe'."

"Hello, Mr. Kang!" Li Xiangnan and Shen Ye quickly puffed up their chests and said hello to Kang Chi.

Looking at these two energetic young men of similar age to himself, Kang Chi nodded to them with satisfaction.

Then, at Cai Yaobin's signal, Deng Henghua also took the initiative to introduce: "I am the captain of the test flight team. If Mr. Kang needs anything at the Aoying test flight base, you can talk to me at any time."

"Hello, Captain Deng."

After the two sides got to know each other briefly, the next step was to unload the plane.

Including Cai Yaobin, what everyone is looking forward to most in this welcome ceremony is probably what the tilt-rotor aircraft built by Kang Chi looks like.

In the eyes of everyone, the rear hatch of the Yun-20 slowly lowered, and the ‘Silver Crane’ loaded in the cabin finally appeared in front of everyone.

so beautiful!

The moment they saw Yinhe's appearance, everyone felt a little surprised.

Although the wings and propellers are like a resting bird, folded down and behind, and you can't see what it looks like after spreading its wings, but just looking at the smooth silver-gray fuselage, it feels like A work of art, full of high-tech beauty.

Is this the plane we're going to test fly?

Seeing this Yinhe, which was 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 are a bit "old-fashioned" in appearance. Whether it is painting or design, they do not have the technological beauty of fighter jets.

The technological beauty of this Yinhe is very different from the domineering and sharp look of the J20. It belongs to the type that makes people feel very light and elegant.

The name Yinhe is indeed very appropriate.

The reason why Kangchi designed Yinhe like this is, on the one hand, it is in line with aerodynamics, and on the other hand, because the Yinhe built by Kangchi is positioned for ordinary driving and exploring tilt-rotor technology, so whether it is endurance or load, They are all relatively conservative and have no redundant functional module designs.

Once the preliminary test here confirms that the general direction is OK, Kangchi plans to ship it back to upgrade it, and then appropriately 'castrate' it that is temporarily unable to be mass-produced, or does not want to spend proficient analysis technology.

At that time, if there are other needs, derivative styles can be designed based on Yinhe's technology.

If you want stronger carrying capacity and range, you can further enlarge the fuselage and install more batteries and motors. If you want higher speed and flexibility, you can shrink the fuselage.

This kind of improvement should not be too difficult for Kangchi.

After briefly admiring the silver crane, the logistics staff immediately stepped forward, began to untie the fixed rope, and then operated the tools to slowly move it down. Then Kang Chi took the initiative to step forward and began to explain and demonstrate the silver crane to the logistics staff. How the crane folds.

The entire folding and unfolding process is actually very simple and smart. Except for the propeller, which requires manual assistance, all the other instructions are executed in the cab.

Seeing Yinhe with its wings fully extended, Cai Yaobin couldn't help but exclaimed to Kang Chi who came down from the cockpit: "As expected of Mr. Kang, I gave you a straight-20 drawing, and you actually built a tilt-rotor aircraft …”

What's even more exaggerated is that it only took him more than a month!

Hearing Cai Yaobin's compliment, Kang Chi just smiled modestly and said, "I don't know if it can fly yet."

"Mr. Kang takes action, there will definitely be no problem." After Cai Yaobin complimented, he added, "It's okay if it can't fly. Isn't the test flight just to test the problem of the aircraft? Others may not even be able to build a model in a month. , not to mention that what you made is a real guy.”

The latter sentence is purely for Kang Chi and himself to find a step in advance.

After setting up the plane, it was almost noon, so after everyone dispersed, they went to the cafeteria to have lunch together. Then the base's logistics staff arranged a room for Kang Chi, while Cai Yaobin took a flight because he had something to do in the afternoon. An equipment manufacturing base in the northeast.

But before leaving, he also emphasized that he would come back for the official test flight tomorrow. Kang Chi advised him not to bother so much, but Cai Yaobin didn't listen at all. He just said a few perfunctory words and left...

After the 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 the Silver Crane.

"This method of operation...is too simple?"

After the tutorial, Li Xiangnan couldn't help but muttered: "Why does it feel like a toy airplane..."

“Isn’t it good that the operation is simple?”

Kang Chi immediately smiled and explained: "Playing games only involves the four QWER keys. Professional gamers can also show off."

"Besides, this Yinhe is currently positioned as a passenger version and a demonstrator of tilt-rotor technology. Simplicity and stability are the most important. We will talk about the demonstration of operation later."

After hearing this, Li Xiangnan felt that this was also the case.

Many accidents involving the Osprey developed by Country M were actually caused by pilot errors. However, in the helicopter state, the operation of this Silver Crane is so simple that it can be said that there is no room for pilot errors at all...

If something were to happen, it would definitely be a design problem with the aircraft itself.

So the words came back again,

It doesn’t seem like an ace pilot is needed to test fly this aircraft, right?

Even after seeing Yinhe's stunning appearance, Li Xiangnan still had a little regret about taking on this test flight mission.

But now that I have taken it all, I have to finish it no matter how reluctant I am.

So after completing the training, the two test pilots and Kang Chi began to formulate the next test tasks.

Kang Chi was familiar with the aircraft he built, but when it came to testing the performance of the aircraft, Li Xiangnan and the others were more professional. They actively proposed many tests that Kang Chi had not thought of before.

Early the next morning, after having breakfast, Kang Chi came to the hangar where Yinhe was parked. At this time, Li Xiangnan and others were already conducting static inspections on Yinhe before testing.

After the static inspection, the two test pilots taxied the aircraft to the test site. At this time, the sky was blue, and the mountains in the distance were embroidered with white clouds embroidered with gold edges. The weather was very suitable for preliminary testing.

Due to the special nature of this aircraft and the fact that most of the morning tests were small-scale visual tests, Kangchi only communicated the test tasks with the tower in advance and then came to the test flight site in person to facilitate observation and testing.

Cai Yaobin also arrived as scheduled and sat at the test site with Kang Chi. There were several close-up monitors in front of them. Those who didn't know might have thought it was the director filming...

A little further away, several fire trucks and ambulances were also on standby.

The first test link is to start the motor on the spot, observe the rotation of the motor and rotor, and then move the flaps to perform several posture changes from helicopter to fixed wing.

The whole process was relatively easy and not dangerous, and it only took twenty minutes to complete.

"The pre-takeoff test is completed and we are ready to conduct low-altitude take-off and landing and hover stability tests."

"receive!"

As the speed of the motor began to increase, strong winds began to blow at the scene, and the hum of friction between the propeller and the air became louder and louder.

However, compared with traditional helicopters, the sound of electric helicopters is significantly quieter. In the soundproof cockpit, the two test pilots even felt that the noise was lower than driving a car.

It feels a bit like flying a plane...

But in such a quiet situation, the aircraft really flew slowly and slowly. The strong sense of unreality made them even have the illusion that they were simulating flight without wearing headphones.

And in addition to being quiet, this Yinhe is also very stable, without the vibration of a turboshaft engine.

Cai Yaobin couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this beautiful big guy really flying and flying so smoothly.

No matter how good the performance of this aircraft was, at least it didn't slap him in the face, or in other words, it didn't slap Kang Chi in the face.

Low-altitude take-off and landing, hovering stability, in-situ steering and U-turn, small front and rear left and right movements, high-power rapid take-off, 4-ton maximum load take-off and landing...

Throughout the morning, everyone was conducting some simple tests on Yinhe, and Yinhe was very considerate to Kang Chi, and the overall performance was quite stable.

Especially during the high-power rapid take-off test, when Li Xiangnan pushed the switch to the maximum, the entire aircraft was like a rocket, swooping up to an altitude of fifty meters.

This light and agile scene really surprised everyone.

They had never seen a manned helicopter that could move as fast and dexterously as a small electric model aircraft.

The key is that its flight attitude is very stable, everything looks so calm and elegant...

After the morning test, Cai Yaobin couldn't help but praise Kang Chi: "Judging from Yinhe's performance in the morning, even as a helicopter, it feels a bit amazing!"

"After all, it's electric." Kang Chi explained with a smile.

"The biggest feature of electric vehicles is that they have relatively few mechanical structures and fast response times. The flight control system can automatically make high-frequency real-time adjustments to the power of each motor."

"If it is a fuel-fired engine with a traditional mechanical structure, the system issues so many complex and subtle adjustment instructions. Not only is it difficult and delayed for the aircraft to execute, but it is 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, motor and battery... If this Silver Crane can successfully complete the test, I think it is 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 construction and use costs.

The price of a ton of aviation kerosene is about 4,500-7,500. Calculating that it takes 2 tons of aviation kerosene to fill the tank at 20%, the cost of one flight is almost more than 10,000 yuan.

Yinhe, on the other hand, only requires 3,000 kWh of electricity and costs only a few hundred yuan.

Coupled with the simplicity of the electric structure, its later maintenance cost and difficulty are far lower than that of a fuel helicopter with a large number of mechanical structures.

If the aircraft's battery replacement technology can keep up, the battery replacement time is likely to be shorter than the refueling time. In certain emergency situations, the aircraft's attendance rate can also be more frequent.

In this case, once the performance and stability of electric helicopters are similar to those of traditional helicopters, it will be almost inevitable to replace them.

It can only be said that the lithium battery with an energy density of 1200wh/kg is really a dark technology. With its application and promotion in high-end fields such as military use, more and more products and equipment will definitely be eliminated.

In the afternoon, they conducted extreme performance tests on Yinhe such as the maximum flight height, speed, acceleration and so on in the helicopter state. All the test results were as expected by Kangchi.

The next day, the main event finally begins.

What will be tested this morning will be Yinhe’s gliding take-off and landing in fixed-wing mode, and what everyone is most concerned about, the change in flying attitude in the air!