Structural team ensures safe landings
Print Edition
MENG Qinggong insisted on hopping aboard the ARJ21 regional jet during one of its initial test flights, conducted in China’s northwestern province of Shaanxi.
“It is the best way for me to get to know how the jet I designed works,” said Meng, 32, senior engineer and director at the structure department in the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC).
While the plane was on the ground, he tried several times to simulate a pilot trying to evacuate in an emergency landing by dropping himself from the 3-meter high cockpit using a rope. In one attempt, his hands were severely bloodied by rope lash.
Meng is leading the 200 some young engineers in the structure department, which is responsible for designing and testing the structure of the ARJ21, including its wings, interior décor and electronic systems. His team also has to ensure the compatibility of parts made by foreign suppliers.
Designing an aircraft on a computer screen is certainly a different experience from accompanying it on a test flight, Meng said.
After graduating from Wuhan University of Technology in 2004, Meng joined the institute and began work on the country’s first domestically manufactured regional jet. He later became the founding director of the structure department.
The department finished the detailed structural design of the ARJ21 in 2006, and the jetliner had its maiden flight in 2008.
“Most parts of the aircraft meet international standards, including the reliability of the landing gear,” Meng said.
Landing gear has always been a major challenge in aircraft design and manufacturing. China’s domestically manufactured MA60 propeller aircraft recently was involved in several accidents because of problems in landing gear.
Meng said getting landing gear to be released without power under emergency conditions was once his biggest headache.
During one of ARJ21’s test flights in 2009, the undercarriage failed to drop down properly, and the German supplier of the landing gear couldn’t solve the problem.
In August 2011, the institute set up a special team of 30 elite engineers led by Meng to investigate the problem.
“I did research on landing gear structures of the world’s major aircraft,” Meng said.
After 19 weeks, the team finally solved the problem with a modified design.
Officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the United States Federal Aviation Administration watched a successful test flight with the new design in 2013. As a result, the landing gear system was accepted by both sides and has been patented for use on Chinese aircraft.
The ARJ21 now faces some test flights in Canada to see how it performs under freezing temperatures. Meng said that will be one of the last tests the plane is put through before it moves toward commercial operation.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
