CHINA’S first large amphibious aircraft AG600 completed its maiden flight in Guangdong Province yesterday.

State television showed live images of the AG600, code- named “Kunlong,” lifting off from the Jinwan airport in the city of Zhuhai at 9:39 a.m.

It returned about an hour later and taxied to its stand accompanied by martial music and greeted by crowds waving Chinese flags.

“The maiden flight makes China among the few countries capable of developing a large amphibious aircraft,” said Huang Lingcai, chief designer of AG600.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council congratulated all those engaged in the mission, including those from the Ministry of Industry and Information, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC).

The congratulatory message said that the maiden flight was a major breakthrough in developing special-purpose aircraft following the maiden flight of the large C919 passenger jet in May.

The 39.6-meter aircraft is powered by four domestically built turboprop engines, according to its developer, the AVIC.

With a maximum takeoff weight of 53.5 tons and a top cruising speed of 500 kilometers per hour, the AG600 has a range of 12 hours.

Designed to be the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the AG600 will be mainly used for maritime rescue, fighting forest fires and marine monitoring.

It can carry 50 people during search-and-rescue missions, collect 12 tons of water in 20 seconds for firefighting and transport up to 370 tons of water on a single tank of fuel.

Its name “Kunlong” stands for a high expectation in Chinese culture with the “Kun” meaning an enormous legendary fish and “Long” a dragon.

The AG600 is the third member of China’s “large aircraft family” after the large freighter Y-20 and large passenger aircraft C919, China’s first domestically developed narrow-body passenger plane, made maiden flights in 2013 and 2017, respectively. The Y-20 entered into service with China’s air force in July 2016.

A plan for the development and production of the AG600 received government approval in 2009.

(Xinhua)