Domestic manned airship: the new "darling" of low-altitude tourism

Source: Science and Technology Daily

"Xiangyun" AS700 manned airship. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

Recently, the "Xiangyun" AS700 manned airship independently developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as Aviation Industry) completed its first transfer flight. "Everything is going smoothly according to plan!" Facing the media camera, Lin Hong, the captain of the AS700 manned airship who had just stepped off the "Xiangyun" AS700 manned airship, took off his gloves and carefully told reporters how he felt in the air: Looking from the inside of the airship, the scenery is clearer than from the plane; the interior of the airship is more spacious, and the comfort is much better than that of ordinary small planes.

After a flight of 1 hour and 46 minutes, the round manned airship took off lightly from Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen, Hubei Province, and landed smoothly at the Shashi General Airport in Jingzhou, where it returned to Jingmen after a short rest and successfully crossed the "two Jingmen".

Zhou Lei, chief designer of the AS700 manned airship project, said that the flight completed all the established tasks and fully verified the AS700's flight communication, facility carrying and remote take-off and landing capabilities. At the same time, it also further tested the technical team's transfer support ability, laying the foundation for subsequent long-distance and longer-endurance flights.

Three "firsts" help the low-altitude economy take off

As an ancient flying machine, the world's first airship is more than 100 years old, which is even earlier than the appearance of airplanes.

At that time, airships mostly used hydrogen as a floating gas, but due to a number of major safety accidents such as hydrogen explosions, they were gradually ignored and replaced by aircraft. Since the 70s of the 20th century, people have used non-flammable helium as a floating gas, and airships have re-entered the development period.

In recent years, with the increasing improvement of people's living standards, the scale of the tourism market has been expanding. Among them, low-altitude sightseeing tourism projects are becoming more and more popular. With the characteristics of smooth flight, slow speed and comfortable experience, airships are not only popular in air tourism, but also in aerial survey, aerial photography, daily patrols, emergency communications and other fields.

In order to meet the increasing market demand at home and abroad, as early as 2018, the AS700 manned airship project began to be developed. In accordance with the design idea of "one boat, multiple types, and series development", the project produced a total of 3 boats. Among them, 01 is a technical verification boat, which will be converted into an unmanned airship after completing scientific research test flights, and all scientific research test flights will be completed in 2023, and 02 and 03 are airworthiness verification boats, which will successfully make their first flights in December 2022 and September 2023 respectively.

"In terms of AS700 product development, technical research, airworthiness standards, etc., the project team has achieved three 'firsts'. Du Wei, project manager of AS700 manned airship, introduced that AS700 realized the localization of main materials, onboard systems and equipment for the airship for the first time, and built an independent and controllable supply chain system for manned airships. At the same time, the development of AS700 has made breakthroughs for the first time in key technologies such as lightweight and low-cost capsule structure design, airship thrust vector synchronous servo control, etc. In addition, through the development of this product, the development technology system and airworthiness verification system of manned airship have been constructed. During the development period, the project team also assisted the Civil Aviation Administration of China in compiling and publishing the draft of the airworthiness regulations for manned airships in China for the first time.

"We hope that after the AS700, a safe, environmentally friendly, convenient and comfortable airship, is put into the market, it will be able to carry more Chinese people to visit the rivers, lakes and seas of the motherland from the air. Zhou Lei said that he believes that the AS700 manned airship can play a role in promoting the development and drainage of some tourist attractions and helping the low-altitude economy take off.

Four advantages ensure a safe and comfortable experience

Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, the AS700 manned airship has excellent performance in terms of structural design, material selection and avionics system.

According to the data and information provided by the aviation industry, the AS700 manned airship has four advantages: lightweight and low-cost structural design, high safety redundancy design, low take-off and landing site requirements, excellent driving experience and high ride comfort.

For airships, the heavier the cabin, the larger the volume of the airbag required, and the higher the flight cost. The R&D team of AS700 project started from the aspects of optimizing structural design and selection of lightweight materials, and after several years of research, completed the optimization design of the integrated molding pod structure and the ultra-lightweight truss tail structure, and optimized the lightweight polymer capsule material in the massive composite material database, which greatly reduced the weight of the airship structure. At the same time, the production cost of capsule materials is about 70% of that of imported capsule materials, which effectively reduces the direct cost of manned airships.

The safety of manned airships is always a top priority at all times. AS700 airbag is made of non-metallic multi-layer composite materials with high strength, low leakage, low temperature resistance and anti-aging to ensure the safety of the main structure. The AS700 also has helium emergency release and ballast water emergency throwing functions. In the event of a complete loss of power or a malfunction of the control system, a slow landing of the airship is also guaranteed. At the same time, the AS700 adopts vector control technology, the thrust vector can be steered from -120° to +90°, and can assist in controlling the lifting and lowering of the airship in emergency situations, etc., which significantly increases safety.

"The vector control technology enables the AS700 to take off and land vertically in small areas, which is more maneuverable and flexible than other types of airships, and has lower take-off and landing site requirements. At a time when every inch of land is at a premium, this will greatly save operating costs. Lin Hong said.

In addition, the AS700 has a better driving experience and ride comfort. It is reported that the AS700 has a modern integrated avionics system, complete communication and navigation equipment, and adopts a fly-by-wire sidestick control design, which has an excellent driving feeling. The AS700 is equipped with large viewing side windows on both sides of the cabin, and when the AS700 flies above the scenic area, the cabin occupants can enjoy the scenery outside the cabin or overlook the scenery below through the large viewing glass of the pod, which is completely different from the travel experience on the ground.

These many advantages have made the AS700 much of the industry's attention. Du Wei revealed that the AS700 successfully obtained a type license last year. At present, there are some large tourism platforms and 5A-level scenic spot managers who have come to consult and negotiate. The development of the AS700 is in line with the needs of high-end consumer transformation and upgrading in mainland China, and has received an order for about 20 aircraft, and the first boat is scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year. Subsequently, the R&D team will take low-altitude sightseeing tourism as a typical demonstration scenario, open up all aspects of the commercial operation of manned airships through pioneer users, and further expand the application scenarios to emergency rescue, urban public services and other fields, and gradually carry out market promotion and move towards commercial operation.