Domestic C919 passenger plane officially rolled off the assembly line.
According to the introduction of the official website of COMAC CHINA, "C919" is the abbreviation of the code name of "COMAC919", and "COMAC" is the abbreviation of the English name of China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. The "C" in the abbreviation is not only the first letter of COMAC, but also the first letter of the English name of China in China, which reflects that the large passenger plane is the will of the country and the expectation of the people.
C919 large passenger plane is a short-range commercial trunk aircraft with independent intellectual property rights in China. The standard range design range of C919 aircraft is 4075km, and the extended range design range is 5555km, which can meet the operating requirements of airlines for different routes. The maximum take-off weight of the standard voyage aircraft is 72,500 kg, and the maximum designed economic life is 90,000 flight hours/60,000 flight cycles /30 calendar years. The basic full economy class layout is 168 seats, and the mixed class layout is 158 seats.
C919 passenger plane in the final assembly process
A large number of advanced technologies are adopted in the design of C919, including: advanced aerodynamic layout and new generation supercritical airfoil and other advanced aerodynamic design technologies; Advanced engine to reduce fuel consumption, noise and emissions; Advanced structural design technology and a large proportion of advanced metal materials and composite materials; Advanced fly-by-wire control and active control technology; Adopt advanced integrated avionics technology; Advanced cabin comprehensive design technology to improve cabin comfort; Advanced maintenance theory, technology and methods to reduce maintenance costs.
C919 will use a large number of advanced composite materials and advanced Al-Li alloys, among which the amount of composite materials will reach 20%, and then the weight of the aircraft will be reduced through the detailed design of the internal structure of the aircraft. In addition, C919 will use domestic aluminum alloys, titanium alloys and steel, which account for 20-30% of the structural weight of the whole aircraft. C919 adopts four-sided windshield. This technology is an advanced technology in the world. At present, only the latest Boeing 787 is used in trunk passenger aircraft. Its windshield has a large area and a wide field of vision. Because of relatively few openings, it simplifies the fuselage processing industry and reduces the aerodynamic resistance of the aircraft head.
The C919 uses the LEAP-1C turbofan engine developed by CFM International, a joint venture between American General Electric and French SNECMA (Safran Group). The core engine of this engine is a 10-stage high-pressure compressor driven by a two-stage high-pressure turbine, and its total pressure ratio is as high as 50, far exceeding the current CFM-56 level of about 25. The blade profile in the high-pressure turbine adopts the third generation three-dimensional aerodynamic design, which has advanced aerodynamic characteristics and adopts high-performance materials and advanced cooling technology. According to relevant data, LEAP-1 can reduce fuel consumption by 16%, carbon dioxide emission by 16%, nitrogen oxide emission by less than 60% and be quieter than the existing CFM-56.
C919 passenger plane in the final assembly process
It is estimated that the localization rate of C919 is about 50% at the first flight, and it will exceed 90% after 2025. A great deal of equipment on this aircraft is made by China itself: the nose radar is made by AVIC Tianjin. The nose is made by AVIC Chengdu. The tail and vertical tail are made by AVIC Harbin. The center wing box, outer wing box, wing section and aileron are manufactured by AVIC Xi ‘an. The front fuselage, middle fuselage section and rear fuselage equivalent section are manufactured by AVIC Hongdu. The leading edge flap and trailing edge flap are manufactured by AVIC Changhe. AVIC Shanghai is the first production line and assembly plant, and AVIC Hongdu is the proposed second production line and assembly plant. In order to support the production and final assembly of C919, Nanchang Aviation Industry City (the new site of AVIC Hongdu) started construction in 2009, and it is planned to start producing the main components of C919 in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Chronology of C919 Development Events
In January, 2006, China listed the large aircraft project as one of the 16 major projects in the national medium-and long-term science and technology planning.
In August 2007, Hu Jintao presided over the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and agreed to set up a preparatory group for the large passenger aircraft project.
In March 2008, the State Council approved the establishment of China Commercial Aircraft Corporation.
It was unveiled in May 2008. China Commercial Aircraft was inaugurated in Shanghai, with its headquarters in Shanghai. The registered capital of the company is 19 billion yuan.
In 2008, China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. officially launched the demonstration of large passenger aircraft projects, mobilized the national strength and wisdom, invited 468 experts from 47 domestic and foreign units to form a large passenger aircraft joint engineering team, set up a large passenger aircraft expert consulting group composed of 20 academicians and experts, formed a preliminary overall technical plan for large passenger aircraft, completed the technical and economic feasibility study report of large passenger aircraft projects, and sorted out the first batch of 14 special technical research projects that need to be started.
In November 2008, the C919 project was officially launched, with the goal of providing a safe, comfortable, energy-saving, environmentally friendly and competitive short-range single-aisle commercial transport aircraft for the civil aviation market in 8-10 years.Initially, it is planned to complete the preliminary design in 2010, the detailed design in 2012, the first flight in 2014, and the airworthiness certificate and delivery to users in 2016.
In May 2009, AVIC Chengfei/Chengfei Civil Aircraft sent a joint design team to Shanghai Aircraft Design Institute to participate in the structural design of the prototype of C919 passenger aircraft nose project.
On June 19th, 2009, AVIC Chengfei/Chengfei Civil Aircraft completed the demonstration and release of the master plan for the manufacturing process of the prototype of the C919 project.
On August 31st, 2009, the full three-dimensional structure digital model of the C919 engineering prototype was fully distributed.
At 9: 30am on September 1st, 2009, the prototype of C919 nose started manufacturing in AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Co., Ltd.. The nose is 7.9 meters long, 3.96 meters wide and 4.16 meters high, including radar cabin, cockpit, toilet, kitchen and cockpit.
On September 8, 2009, the prototype of C919 was officially unveiled at the Asia International Aviation Exhibition held in Hong Kong. This is also the first time that the domestic C919 passenger plane has appeared in front of the world.
On November 24th, 2009, the assembly state of the upper and lower parts of the C919 die passed the evaluation, and the upper and lower parts were combined.
On December 8, 2009, the prototype of C919 project was officially rolled off the production line, and the whole project design and manufacture took only half a year.
On the morning of December 10th, 2009, the acceptance ceremony of the main structure of the prototype of C919 passenger plane nose project was held in AVIC Chengfei.
On December 21, 2009, AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co., Ltd. and CFM International Co., Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing, and planned to establish a domestic joint venture production line for the final assembly and commissioning of LEAP-1C aircraft engines for C919.
On December 26th, 2009, the prototype project of C919 passenger plane nose was officially delivered to Shanghai Commercial Aircraft Corporation, which is another significant progress made in China’s large aircraft project.
In May 2011, China Commercial Aircraft Shanghai Pudong Assembly Base started construction, and it is planned that by 2020, it will have an annual production capacity of 150 C919 passenger planes and 50 new ARJ21 regional planes.
On November 16th, 2012, at Zhuhai Air Show, C919 passenger plane won a total of 100 orders from 6 Chinese and foreign customers.
On October 5th, 2013, Luo Ronghuai, Deputy General Manager of Comac China, said,The C919 plan may encounter a "setback". The C919 single-aisle aircraft produced by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China was originally scheduled for test flight in 2014, but it has been postponed to 2015, and the delivery date of the aircraft will be postponed to 2017 or 2018. The large domestic aircraft in China may not be in service until 2020.
On December 31, 2013, the first nose part of C919 passenger plane project was assembled and removed from the frame. China Commercial Aircraft Corporation, AVIC and related units held a delivery ceremony at Chengfei Civil Aircraft Company, and unveiled the products of the first nose parts. The assembly of the machine head parts is mainly used for design verification test.
In May, 2014, Han Kecen, vice president of the Naval Aircraft Design Institute and executive director of the C919 project, confirmed that the C919 aircraft would make its first flight at the end of 2015.
On July 31, 2014, the head section of the first aircraft of C919 passenger plane was assembled off the assembly line of AVIC Chengfei civil aircraft.
On August 22, 2014, the first mid-plane fuselage of C919 passenger plane was assembled and rolled off the assembly line at AVIC Xifei 618 plant.
On August 29th, 2014, the midship/center wing and aileron section of C919 large passenger plane passed the airworthiness inspection at AVIC Xifei Company and reached the delivery status.
On September 19th, 2014, the first C919 passenger plane officially started the structural assembly work at China Commercial Aircraft Shanghai Pudong Assembly Base.
On October 8, 2014, the heads of the aviation industries of China and France said that the LeapX engine powered by the domestic C919 had been tested on the hook and successfully tested in the air.
On October 15th, 2014, the first aircraft nose of C919 arrived at Shanghai Pudong Base from Chengdu by land and water transportation.
On October 30, 2014, AVIC Shen Fei Civil Aircraft Co., Ltd. successfully delivered the first rear fuselage front section of C919 passenger plane here.
On February 11th, 2015, the rear fuselage of the first aircraft of C919 was manufactured by China Aerospace Haiying (Zhenjiang) Special Materials Co., Ltd. of the Third Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology, passed the airworthiness inspection and was officially delivered to Comac China.
On February 13th, 2015, the vertical tail of the first aircraft of C919 was delivered to China Commercial Aircraft by AVIC Shenfei Civil Aircraft Company.
In May 2015,According to sources, the first flight of C919 passenger plane will be delayed again until the first half of 2016, and the delivery time of the first batch of aircraft may be postponed from 2018 originally planned to 2020 at the latest.
On July 22nd, 2015, CFM International delivered the first LEAP-1C engine to China Commercial Aircraft.
On November 2nd, 2015, the first prototype of C919 passenger plane was officially rolled off the assembly line at China Commercial Aircraft Shanghai Pudong Assembly Base.