China unveils flight simulator for AG600 amphibious aircraft

State-owned broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has released footage showing that the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC’s) Flight Automatic Control Research Institute (FACRI) in Xi’an has developed a flight simulator to train pilots of the indigenous AG600 amphibious aircraft.

In a news report posted online in mid-February CCTV 13 showed footage of the simulator being tested at an undisclosed location but provided no further details.

Meanwhile, AVIC said in a separate announcement that it is planning to complete construction of a third prototype aircraft by the end of this year.

The latest developments come after the AG600, which is still under development, conducted its first take off from the sea on 26 July 2020. The move followed the aircraft’s first waterborne take off on 20 October 2018 from a reservoir near Zhanghe Airport in Jingmen in China’s central Hubei Province and its first take off from land, which took place in December 2017 from Zhuhai in southern Guangdong Province.

In May 2018 AVIC was quoted as saying that the AG600 is expected to be available for delivery to customers by 2022. “We are endeavouring to get the airworthiness certification from the civil aviation authorities by 2021 and deliver [the aircraft] to the customers by 2022,” the aircraft’s chief designer, Huang Lingcai, said at the time without naming any countries as possible customers.

The aircraft, which has a reported range of up to 4,500 km, has the potential to carry 50 people or collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds when configured for aerial firefighting, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.