Hello everyone, the story we want to tell today took place before the test flight of our J-7 Flying Leopard fighter was finalized. This aircraft encountered two major accidents during the test flight, but both were overcome by China's test pilots with superb technology and successfully saved the fighter, so what problems were encountered in these two times? How do brave pilots deal with them?
As we all know, the top pilots are actually the test pilots, and these test pilots are the most elite forces selected from the best. Their mission is to fly a variety of aircraft that have not been fixed, or to test new types of weapons. Therefore, the unknown and danger are often accompanied by them. But it is precisely because of their efforts that the world's aviation industry can develop to today's height. The Chinese test pilot is also the world's premier and excellent test pilot. In the process of test flights of various aircraft types, Chinese test pilots are known for their high efficiency and success rate in handling accidents.
The Flying Leopard fighter is one of the main support aircraft in China, which can bomb the ground and can also fight in air, which can be said to be a generalist on the battlefield. Moreover, this aircraft is also the first fighter-bomber independently designed and developed by China, which has special significance. Although today, the status of the J-7 is gradually being replaced by J-16 and other aircraft, there is no doubt. The glorious history of this aircraft cannot be erased.
The Flying Leopard fighter began its first supersonic test flight with a bomb, and as the first supersonic test flight, we deliberately chose Huang Bingxin as the test pilot of the aircraft, Huang Bingxin was only 34 years old at the time, but he had become the leader of the test group. He has the title of test flight hero and national meritorious pilot. Many people think that he should be the test pilot for the first flight, and it should be foolproof.
It was December 1988. In the cold winter month, many leaders went to Yanliang Airport to observe the first flight. In order to ensure that the data during the flight was recorded, tens of thousands of employees of the Xi'an Aircraft Factory came here and launched a close deployment, deploying a large number of sensors on the airport to collect the flight data of the aircraft. All the people were excited, but at the same time nervous. But before the test, the most nervous was the pilot Huang Bingxin, who had been joking with his comrades before the flight, but in fact he had already handed over the suicide note to the organization. His suicide note is very simple, and it says that it would be worth it if I sacrificed. The money in the envelope was my last party fee, and the family should never cause trouble for the organization because of this. Just three sentences, but it shows the pure heart of a Chinese soldier. Before he boarded the plane, everyone, including the chief designer, came over and shook hands with him. When Huang Bingxin shook the hand of Chief Master Chen Yijian, please rest assured that I will definitely drive your plane back in its entirety.
Soon it was 1:30 p.m., and Huang Bingxin flew the Flying Leopard fighter jet straight into the sky. The plane made a left turn after climbing to 1 km and could land after a week of circumvention of the airport. At this moment, however, the plane suddenly began to shake violently, and the engine began to gasp. Huang Bingxin was also a little flustered at this time, because he found that the altimeter and tachometer of the aircraft began to shake randomly. The vast majority of other instruments are in a state of immobility. For Huang Bingxin, who has handled many accidents, he is relatively familiar with this situation. When this happens, it is likely that there is a problem with the engine of the aircraft. But what worried him most was the fire alarm on the dashboard, and the warning lights began to flash, indicating that the engine was likely to be ignited.
In order to be able to collect more experimental data, we sent a J-6 fighter to accompany the J-7 fighter throughout the flight. Pilot Lu Jun soon began watching the Flying Leopard fighter as requested, and soon he came to his conclusion. The engine did not fail, please continue flying. Huang Bingxing then began to fly the plane to lower the altitude, and he decided to start an emergency landing. He warned himself not to panic as he slowly lowered his height. Since the altimeter was no longer available, he could only estimate when it would land, with a loud bang. He finally landed heavily on the ground, but fortunately, the plane was not damaged. At this time, Huang Bingxin's brain was already shocked to the point of blankness, until he was rescued from the plane by the ground crew. After entering his plane, the ground crew was shocked and unable to speak, because the various dashboards in the plane were basically shaken out in a violent concussion, and the plane was full of horizontal and vertical wires, a mess, in such a situation, other pilots may have abandoned the plane and escaped, but Huang Bingxin did not. This can be said to be a miracle. In the course of this test flight, Huang Bingxin successfully saved the plane and valuable experimental data. Researchers soon began to rule out the problems that arose during the test flight.
So in 1992, Huang Bingxinjiang and navigator Yang Bujin boarded a two-seat flying Leopard prototype together to complete the first aerial supersonic experiment. In this experiment, he piloted the Flying Leopard fighter and climbed to an altitude of 5 kilometers at a speed of 1100 kilometers per hour. He has been flying at the speed of transonics while observing experimental data recorded on the dashboard. However, at this moment, there was a sudden loud noise, which made the two people in the cabin panic. The first thought that came to Huang Bingxin's mind was that the missile might have fallen. But Yang Bujin told him that the two missiles were still mounted and had not fallen. However, just when the two people were wondering, the plane suddenly lost control. Like fireworks flying, they flutter around. At this time, Huang Bingxin wanted to control the course of the plane, but found that the rudder did not react at all. It turned out that the violent vibration just now turned out to be the only rudder, which was shaken off across the speed of sound. No rudder aircraft. It is impossible to control its specific course, which is very fatal, if according to the normal rules of dangerous situation handling, Huang Bingxin and Yang Bujin should immediately catapult and escape. But the two people agreed that once they escaped, the efforts of tens of thousands of people for more than ten years would be wasted. So Huang Bingxin said that he would let Yang Bujin parachute immediately, so that if the danger situation was not successfully handled, at least someone could know a certain amount of experimental data, but Yang Bujin expressed his willingness to coexist with the plane and continue to fly with Huang Bingxin.
Huang Bingxin was also very touched by Yang Bujin's trust, so he decided to drive the plane back smoothly no matter what. Now that the plane has no rudder, the only way to control the direction is to look at the pilot's own skills. The flaps on both sides of the aircraft, if opened at different angles, can make the aircraft yaw in different directions. At the same time, the horsepower on both sides of the engine is not the same. The plane will also deflect, so Huang Bingxin, with this feature, let the plane begin to change direction in the air. But without the rudder of the plane, it was very difficult to fine-tune, so everyone saw that the plane began to draw a snake shape in the air. At this time, including the hearts of the ground staff, they were all tied together, after all, if there was an accident, it would be the destruction of the aircraft and the death of people. Huang Bingxin did not dare to think much at this time, he knew that the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and only by controlling the plane without distraction could he completely drive the plane back. He moved the plane inch by inch, finally pointing the nose of the plane to the runway, and the next question was how to land.
He couldn't help but think of the first time he flew a flying leopard a few years ago. All the dashboards of the plane fell out that time, and he was able to fly the plane back, and now he thinks he has the ability to do that too. So he controlled the angle at which the plane descended inch by inch. The aircraft is slowly put in a state of descent by means of a gear plate as well as the flaps of the aircraft. As the wheels touched the ground, the flying leopard stopped on the runway with great success, and everyone at the scene applauded it warmly. When he stepped down from the plane and came to the middle of the engineers, all the people hugged him, and he looked back at the tail of the plane and saw that the rudder behind the vertical tail had become a huge gap. Huang Bingxin's test flight work this time can be said to have created a miracle, that is, he can safely return without a rudder. It is precisely because of his decision that a large amount of valuable flight data has been preserved, providing sufficient data for the subsequent improvement of the flying leopard.
Soon, the technicians found that the vibration problems on both occasions were due to the insufficient structural strength of some parts of the Flying Leopard fighter, and only needed to strengthen the strength of these structures to make the aircraft fly more safely. It is precisely because of Huang Bingxin's two consecutive flights that this vibration problem was solved in the following two months, and the Flying Leopard fighter also officially entered the mass production stage. Since then, the resonance problem that has plagued the Flying Leopard fighter has been completely solved. And Huang Bingxin is about to throw himself into the next more intense test flight work.