Decks cleared for AG600 mass production, delivery

China's domestically developed AG600 seaplane received its production certificate on Wednesday from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, paving the way for its delivery.

At an issuance ceremony in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, Li Shuangchen, head of the CAAC Central and Southern Regional Administration, presented the certificate to representatives of the AG600 project team, according to a news release from Aviation Industry Corp of China, the aircraft's developer and the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.

The certificate clears the AG600 — the world's largest and heaviest amphibious aircraft — for mass production and entry into the market.

Following the issuance, China Aviation Industry General Aircraft, an AVIC subsidiary in charge of the AG600 project, signed cooperation agreements with several entities, including the Jilin provincial department of emergency management, the Jinhua city government in Zhejiang province, and the Macau General Aviation and Flying Association. The agreements aim to provide the AG600's services to these organizations.

Wang Huafeng, an official with the Jilin provincial department of emergency management in charge of fire services, said after the ceremony that an AG600 prototype had been tested for aerial fire suppression over Changbai Mountain in the province.

"The trial run has shown to us that the seaplane is good at emergency-response tasks," he said. "Its service is a big help to us in terms of grassland and forest fire control."

Ye Junwei, director of the Zhejiang emergency management air rescue center, said the AG600 is expected to greatly improve the responsiveness and efficiency of forest fire rescue efforts.

The AG600 is China's second amphibious aircraft model after the SH-5, which was developed in the 1970s for military purposes and has since been retired.

It is also the final member of the three large-size aircraft models that China has striven to design and build domestically. The other two — the Y-20 military transport plane and the C919 narrow-body jetliner — have been in active service for years.

The central government approved the AG600 program in June 2009 and its development began in September the same year. Tens of thousands of researchers and engineers from 312 domestic institutes, enterprises and universities participated in the program.

Construction of the first prototype began in March 2014 and was completed in July 2016. The AG600 made its debut flight in December 2017 in Zhuhai, taking off from and landing at an airport. Ten months later, it carried out its first water-based takeoff and landing at Zhanghe Reservoir in Jingmen, Hubei province. In July 2020, the aircraft completed its first sea-based test flight over the Yellow Sea.

In recent years, four prototypes have undergone extensive testing across the country to verify the aircraft's capabilities and compliance with airworthiness standards.

Measuring 38.9 meters long with a wingspan of 38.8 meters, the AG600 is roughly the size of a Boeing 737 passenger aircraft and is the world's biggest operational amphibious aircraft.

It has a maximum takeoff weight of 60 metric tons, a maximum altitude of 7.6 kilometers and a maximum operational range of 4,500 kilometers.

The aircraft is designed for both ground and water-based takeoffs and landings. It can rescue 50 people during a maritime search and rescue mission, and in a typical firefighting operation, it can collect 12 tons of water from a lake or sea in 20 seconds to douse fires over an area of about 4,000 square meters, designers said.

AVIC has so far received orders for six AG600s from two buyers, with deliveries expected to begin in August, project leaders said.