Chengdu Launches Low-Altitude Flight Routes, Pioneering in Urban Manned Travel
TapTechNews, Jun 20. According to the Chengdu Business Daily, today, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, launched two urban low-altitude manned travel verification flight routes. At 9:35 am, the helicopter took off from the Luodai General Airport and arrived at the China-Europe Center, after a brief stay, it flew to Qingcheng Mountain and then returned to the Luodai General Airport.
According to the aircraft maintenance personnel, there were 4 people on board this time, and it can carry a maximum of 8 passengers, and the speed of this model can reach 300 kilometers per hour (about 186 miles per hour).
This flight covers the route connection between the urban area and the scenic area, directly flying from the China-Europe Center in the High-tech Zone of Chengdu City to Qingcheng Mountain in Dujiangyan City. The landing point of Qingcheng Mountain is close to the Qingchengshan Station of the Chengguan Railway. This station has formed a hub for various transportation transfers such as railways, rails, buses and taxis.
Another flight route will also take off from the Luodai General Airport this afternoon, arrive at the Tianfu International Airport, after a brief stay, it is planned to fly to the Shuangliu International Airport in 30 minutes and return to the Luodai General Airport again. This means that Chengdu will become the first city in China that can use low-altitude aircraft such as helicopters to connect the airport and urban commuter routes.
According to the relevant person in charge of Wofei Changkong, the helicopter model is Agusta AW109 (aircraft number: B-707F). This flight activity takes the traditional helicopter as a pioneer and tests to run through the entire process involving airspace application, general aviation reporting and record-filing, station construction, and traffic coordination involved in implementing urban low-altitude travel services, laying the foundation for the future eVTOL commercial model.
TapTechNews found out that the Luodai General Airport is located in Longquanyi District, Chengdu. It is invested and constructed by Sichuan Tuofeng General Aviation Co., Ltd. It covers an area of 320 mu (about 52.47 acres), the runway length is 550 meters (about 1804 feet), and the runway width is 26 meters. It can provide services such as flight training, air tour, emergency rescue, aerial photography and monitoring, high-altitude skydiving, helicopter maintenance and assembly, flight trusteeship, etc.