World’s Largest Amphibious Aircraft Makes Maiden Flight in China

Megalith

Megalith

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The world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the China-made AG600, made its maiden flight on Sunday: it represents the latest milestone in the country’s efforts to modernize its military. Powered by four turboprop engines, it can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions and scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for firefighting trips.

Xinhua news agency said the aircraft was the "protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs". It can use conventional airports and also land and take-off from the sea. State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) has spent almost eight years developing the aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing Co 737.
 
Largest OPERATIONAL amphibian perhaps, it's not in the same class as the Spruce Goose.
 
All jokes aside, if they have a export version that is reliable and safe, it could sell. With liability laws the way they are, I doubt we'll ever see a domestic manufacturer develop an amphibious plane (unless the military asked them to). But the potential for an amphibious air carrier is interesting. I say this because I used to do some python programming for a GIS group at my old university, and someone once modeled Chalk's International Airlines (which we called 'Ducky') for the traffic and shipping studies they did. Weirdly, even after assigning huge penalties for weather, safety, maintenance and even startup costs, we would watch 'Ducky' pop up as a contender or even a dominator, especially on the east coast and in the great lakes areas.
 
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