Rebirth in 1989: Building a Chinese Technological Empire

Seeing that everyone was silent, Xu Huasheng sighed. They are good researchers, but they are not good businessmen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the reason why I say that the Boeing 707 is the world's first commercially successful aircraft is because both Boeing, which produces this aircraft, and the airlines that operate the Boeing 797 aircraft, can make money from this aircraft."

When Xu Huasheng said this, everyone looked up, with serious expressions, and many people felt as if the clouds had been cleared and the sun had been shining.

"Teachers, if an aircraft wants to achieve this kind of commercial success, it needs to be safe and economical. Until now, many people in the world think that flying is not safe. And an aircraft that often encounters accidents will inevitably be disliked by passengers and passenger airlines, thus ruining its career. Economy is a necessary attribute for commercial operation. Whether the cost of the aircraft itself is too high, the fuel consumption of the aircraft is too high, or the maintenance is difficult, it is difficult to succeed in business. The reason why the Boeing 707 is successful is that the Boeing 707 perfectly meets these needs..."

When Xu Huasheng said this, many people suddenly understood. At this moment, they even understood the reason why the Y-10 was discontinued.

"Back to our Y-10, I know this aircraft is the dream of all of us. And the performance of this aircraft is not bad, but have you ever thought about it. How can this aircraft meet the requirements of airworthiness?"

Xu Huasheng asked back, and this question directly stumped everyone, but Cheng Shishi looked at Xu Huasheng seriously, looking forward to Xu Huasheng's insights.

"Everyone, airworthiness is currently a shackle for my country's civil aviation industry. Airworthiness literally means suitable for navigation, and navigation here refers to civil aviation flights. Unlike military aircraft, civil airliners have a large passenger capacity and frequent flights. Therefore, the requirements for safety and reliability are extremely high. Everyone knows McDonnell Douglas' DC-10, right?"

Xu Huasheng asked back, and some people nodded their heads. Isn't this the king of air crashes?

"More than 400 of these aircraft were produced, but 15 of them had accidents, so this aircraft is called the king of air crashes and the cursed aircraft. The Concorde was forced to withdraw from the market after only one crash. Civil aviation aircraft have zero tolerance for safety defects, so countries with an early start in the civil aviation industry have formulated strict and detailed airworthiness standards, ranging from the structural strength of the aircraft, engine reliability, deformation when facing collapse and expansion, and the reaction after being hit by a bird, to the arrangement of seats, the location of emergency exits, the color of control buttons and handles, and the size of seat belts. Almost every item in the airworthiness standard comes from accident cases in real route transportation."

Xu Huasheng's words made everyone take a deep breath.

"It can be said that Western countries are crashing planes, summarizing experiences, and formulating rules, and such rules are constantly being updated, and are becoming more and more strict and detailed. This has led to higher and higher entry barriers for civil aviation technology. If we don't challenge this rule, even if the Y-10 is built, do you think it can be put into operation?"

This sentence made everyone silent.

"Although standards can be used as a reference, we can directly refer to foreign standards. However, whether the aircraft meets the standards requires a lot of experiments and test flights. Ladies and gentlemen, have such standards matured in the development process of our Y-10? Have our Y-10 flight parameters been accurately and reliably measured in accordance with international standards? Can our test flight methods and technologies support this aircraft? Are our materials fully qualified? To put it simply, who of you dares to guarantee that the Y-10 we manufacture can 100% guarantee the safety of our passengers when it flies in the sky?"

When this sentence came out, everyone was silent.

After listening to Xu Huasheng's words, and thinking about the problems that occurred during the entire Y-10 research phase, no one spoke at this moment, because they dared not guarantee it.

Yes, the Y-10 did fly, and it flew several times.

But if it is safe to fly a few times, will it still be safe to fly dozens or hundreds of times? They are R&D personnel, and they know what the Y-10 looks like best.

Although the aircraft has flown, there are still many problems. Some materials are not up to standard, some data are not accurate, and even some airworthiness test data do not know how to measure.

Therefore, even if this aircraft is built, no airline is willing to buy it. Unless administrative measures are used, no airline is willing to take this risk.

The Y-10 is a civil airliner, a plane destined toFrom a business perspective, what are we waiting for if no one buys the aircraft?

"So everyone, if we can't make a breakthrough in airworthiness standards and break through airworthiness technology, our civil aviation large aircraft will always be locked in the airworthiness shackles and can't move. Even if we build a large aircraft, if it doesn't meet this standard, airlines will not buy it. What's more, the airworthiness standard is not only a challenge, but also a weapon used by Western countries to blockade us. It is extremely difficult for our civil aviation passenger aircraft to obtain their airworthiness certificates. Therefore, civil aviation large aircraft is sometimes not just a problem of the aircraft, but our country's airworthiness standards..."

Xu Huasheng's words made everyone look lonely and even desperate. China now has no airworthiness standards. It doesn't even know how to obtain and measure various data of airworthiness standards. How can we participate in the research and development of passenger aircraft?

"Mr. Xu, if that's the case, why did you invite us?"

A technician couldn't help asking. This made Xu Huasheng laugh.

"It's very simple, because the first aircraft we are going to build is not a civil airliner at all."

Xu Huasheng said with a smile, which made everyone's eyes widen.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the difficulties of my country's civil aviation large aircraft are not just the airworthiness standards. In terms of aircraft materials, engines, control systems, etc., we are far behind developed countries. If we don't solve these problems, even if we solve the airworthiness problem in the future, can we build large aircraft?"

After Xu Huasheng finished speaking, he stood up and walked to the podium in the conference room, pulled open a curtain, and a huge blackboard appeared in front of everyone.

On the blackboard, there was a huge color rendering. Seeing this gray-painted large aircraft rendering, everyone's eyes widened.

On the rendering, there was an aircraft, a large aircraft, a big guy with four engines.

"Teachers, this is the first aircraft our company wants to develop. I codename it Yun-20, and it is a large transport aircraft. As for its purpose, it is also very simple. In the future, with the development of the express delivery industry, many express parcels will need to be transported by air. Instead of renting someone else's aircraft, I want to do it in one step. Let's simply develop an express delivery aircraft by our company, and then form a transport team to deliver our company's express delivery, so that our express delivery can be delivered in the morning and evening..."

Xu Huasheng said with a smile, and his smile was very bright.

The people below looked at the renderings and this heavyweight guy, and couldn't help complaining in their hearts.

Damn, you said this plane is used to transport express delivery? I don't believe you, who uses this kind of thing to transport express delivery, unless the name of the express delivery is Dongfeng.