Two major items coming out of Zhuhai from the civil aviation space. The Airbus design center in China is actually groundbreaking news that could affect the direction of the Chinese aircraft industry. An 80-plane Chinese buy of the 7E7 would mean about 40% of the 200 first year orders that Boeing is depending on is coming from China.

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2004/11/01/ap1624421.html

Airbus to Set Up Center in China Next Year
11.01.2004, 10:36 AM

Airbus SAS plans to set up an engineering center in China next year to focus on new generation jets for the mainland’s fast-growing aviation market, the French aircraft maker said Monday. The company also announced a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars to sell eight aircraft to a Chinese airline.

Toulouse, France-based Airbus said its engineering center is expected to employ 200 people by the end of 2008, the company said in a statement at an air show in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai.
. . .

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/11/1099290754.html

Boeing Looks To China For 80 7E7 Orders

Boeing hopes that Chinese airlines will soon place orders for up to 80 of its new 7E7 “Dreamliner” jets, according to the official publication of Airshow China 2004.

An order of this size would push Boeing over its target of 200 sales for the more fuel-efficient airliner by year-end, the publication said, without citing a source.
. . .

According to Qianlong, the L-15 is officially referred to at Zhuhai at the “Flying Lion.” That’s second flying cat nickname given by the official Chinese aviation export arm CATIC. The FBC-1 is called the “Flying Leopard.”

The LFC-16 is actually very interesting. The original name for the LFC-16 was CY-1 and was developed by a new private company from Beijing called SuperWings.

The fact that it now has a AVIC logo and designation means that there are actual interest, or at least consideration, in pursuing this concept by the national industry.

The idea behind the CY-1 was that new control and lift devices, including the full length side lift surfaces above the wings, would confer extreme manueverability to a stable design. Therefore, you can have a supermaneuverable plane without the need for fly-by-wire.

Pictures of the CY-1 from the last air show.

Those are H6D or H6H with two wing pylons.

The Zhuhai Airshow Primer

Okay aviation fans, the 5th Zhuhai airshow will begin in two days. Nov. 1. It is the one airshow in China showcasing Chinese aviation products, though once again this year, there seems to be more “models” than actual airframes from the two AVICs.

So while the airshow lasts (Nov. 1 to Nov. 7) look for news on the following new projects:

1) FC-1: fighter, Chengdu, Sino-Pakistani project (and well-known flame topic on AFM); big disappointment that one of the flying prototypes won’t show up.

2) FTC2000: supersonic AJT. Guizhou, another airshow disappointment; was a full scale mockup at the last show; there are two flying prototypes but neither one is slated for the show.

3) H425: medium helo, a uprated development of the Z-9 (Dauphin) from Harbin (also known as Hafei); first flew earlier this year, hopefully it can make an appearance.

4) J-7G: fighter, Chengdu, latest version of the J-7MG; the MG made its initial appearance at Zhuhai; doubtful they’ll one along to the show,

5) J-10: fighter, Chengdu. because of explicit naming of the J-10 by PAF officials, it was hoped that it will be revealed at the airshow this year; highly unlikely

6) JH-7A: strike-fighter, Xian; the export version of the FBC-1M was showned as a model in earlier shows; it was hoped that we would get to see the JH-7A as we saw the FBC-1 (which actually took to the air two shows ago); highly unlikely, but one could hope

7) L-15: supersonic AJT, Hongdu; its mockup is probably the highlight of this year’s show

8) MA60: turboprop transport, Xian’s 60 passenger feeder liner developed from the Y-7 (AN-24); there are new variants including a frieght version. Plane number B-2429 was shown at previous shows including Singapore so it might show up again at Zhuhai,

9) Y12E: turboprop transport and utility, latest version of Harbin’s popular 19-passenger craft; the Y12E was recently certified.

10) Y8F400: turboprop transport, Shaanxi, the Y8F800 prototype with the solid nosecomb has not appeared at any airshow yet but has pictured many times in publicity livery. Hopefully it would show up and people can take some closeups. Otherwise, they might send the Y8F200 B-5791 which had appeared in previous shows.

Others that we will hear about and possibly appear in models, videos or posters at the show are helos Z-9 and variants, Z-8 and variants, and the light HC120; the J-8 in its latest F and H variants; trainer K-8 in its latest guise (supposedly updated with a glass cockpit); and commercial transports ARJ-21 and the ERJ-145 project with Embraer of which the first two recently rolled off their asembly lines this summer.

no need to get personal GD. 😉

I was only having fun with him. He is under 21 and drinking would probably be illegal for him 🙂

looks like the spine is too big to be only for weight support, and i doubt the engineers at CAC will waste that space or try to fill it with a few liters more feul. so i guess erez was right after all.

You put in a spine for a higher seat not for “weight support” but to keep the aerodynamics in line with the design. This is the same for practically every two-seater. You can only get around this only if you can put in a second seat without any change in the overall planform of the original one-seater. (BTW, putting in a higher second seat not only necessitates a spine for the fairing but usually a higher taller tail too. It’s all aerodynamics.)

Now with the extra structure put in, of course you’re not going to waste it so it would be for either avionics or fuel. We have no idea as of right now whether the J-10B’s spine is full of fuel, avionics or an empty compartment for luggage. Of course, any aviation designer would make use of empty space.