Hybrid Helicopters, Tilt-Rotor Aircraft Concepts Displayed At China Helicopter Expo

From small unmanned hybrid helicopters to a massive tiltrotor aircraft, Chinese companies showed off concepts in the high-speed rotorcraft market at the China Helicopter Expo which concluded Sunday in Tainjin.

The entries ranged from the "Blue Whale" tiltrotor aircraft being developed by AVIC's Helicopter Research and Development Institute, according to a report appearing in the online European edition of China Daily. An engineer from the company said that Blue Whale would have a maximum takeoff weight of 60 tons, a payload of up to 30 tons, and will be capable of reaching speeds of up to 435 miles per hour.

The Blue Whale is reportedly being developed as both a civilian and military aircraft.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Jueying-8 UAV, which has a top rotor for lift but also features contra-rotating props on the nose of the machine. The designers say that the aircraft will have a maximum speed of about 250 mph, and that a first flight of a prototype is expected to be conducted in 2015.

The director of unmanned helicopters with the Helicopter Research and Development Institute, Fan Yonghong, told China Daily that China has "cracked core technologies" such as composites, rotor design, flight controls, and avionics to make the high-speed aircraft possible.

If the unmanned Jueying-8 is successful, Chinese aviation insiders say that a manned version is also possible.

FMI: http://www.caac.gov.cn/