What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 688 Low-altitude Economy
"A supersonic passenger plane? Mr. Tang, isn't that a bit beyond your capabilities?"

"No, no, this is entirely within the plan."

Tang Wen simply smiled as he looked at Cao Xinquan, who seemed somewhat uneasy.

Cao Xinquan, a former researcher at Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, left his job in 92 to join Boeing in the United States and participated in the research of the X43A hypersonic vehicle.

In the original timeline, this powerful being managed to return to his homeland 10 years later and participated in the hypersonic wind tunnel project.

In this timeline, Gekin has an almost insatiable thirst for talent, poaching talent from domestic research institutes and even recruiting those who have already left.

In the 1980s and 90s, many domestic aviation elites left the country, but after Geigin reached a deal with McDonnell Douglas, he tried to win them back.

During this period, many of the talents who went abroad did not have time to participate deeply in the Imperial secret projects, but they learned world-class aviation experience, making it easier to bring them back.

As the MD11G project progressed, more and more talents returned, and finally, a big fish like Cao Xinquan emerged.

After learning about the other party's area of ​​expertise, Tang Wen was thrilled, thinking that he had finally seen hope for a supersonic passenger plane.

During his trip to England, Tang Wen naturally visited the "Peking Union Medical College" model. BAE enthusiastically promoted it to him, but after learning more about it, he discovered that the "Peking Union Medical College" model had quite a few problems.

High fuel consumption is just the least noticeable issue; the bigger problems lie in maintainability and reliability.

The Olympus 593 engine, used for supersonic flight, is vastly different from ordinary civil aviation engines. Under prolonged high-speed conditions above Mach 2, the impact and high temperature on its blades far exceed those of ordinary civil aviation engines. It can withstand extreme temperatures of over 1350 degrees Celsius, while ordinary civil aviation engines only need to withstand 1000 degrees Celsius.

The direct consequence is that its engine lifespan is at most 1.5 hours, only 1/4 of that of a conventional jet engine;

In daily use, the overhaul and inspection interval of the Olympus 593 is only 650 hours, while modern civil aviation engines can easily reach tens of thousands of hours. The difference is not small, and the items and costs required for a single overhaul are several times higher.

So the biggest problem is:
The Concorde had to return to the factory for a major overhaul and inspection lasting at least 6 weeks after only a few missions. The passenger efficiency was unacceptable to the airline, and it was difficult to recoup the costs throughout its entire life cycle.

Tang Wen didn't care about the operating costs, but he couldn't tolerate the fact that the aircraft had to be shut down for major repairs after only a short period of operation. Even if the Olympus 593 were copied exactly, it wouldn't meet his needs.

However, a more practical problem is that engines used for supersonic flight are not cheap or durable products; they are generally used in the military field and are not as maintainable as the Olympus 593.

At this moment, Tang Wen thought of a concept that the aviation industry had already conceived of:

Wheefan-ramjet combined power engine.

The aviation industry discovered long ago that turbofan engines are not suitable for high-speed flight. When the speed exceeds a certain speed, the multi-stage turbine blades will become an obstacle to acceleration, greatly reducing the intake efficiency and significantly increasing the blade temperature and shortening its lifespan. The combustion efficiency can only be below 25%.

Ramjet engines are different. Simply put, they are straight pipes with no blades, resulting in minimal resistance. Combustion efficiency is increased to nearly 50%, weight is reduced by more than 70% for the same thrust, and overall efficiency can be several times higher.

If the two types of engines were combined into one, using turbofan power at low speeds to save fuel and ramjet power at high speeds to save even more fuel, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?
If the two are integrated into one and can be switched freely, it becomes a variable cycle engine; if they are separate, they are essentially still two engines, which is called a combined power system.

The former empire had already tried it, but ultimately found the cost too high and abandoned it after its application on the SR71 Blackbird.

Gaijin had neither the ability nor the need to tinker with variable cycle engines, so he could only choose the latter, simply putting the two engines together and controlling their on and off independently.

The advantage of doing this, besides the technical simplicity, is that shipyards can provide highly efficient ramjet engines—such as the pulverized coal ramjet engine used on the P13A.

By scaling it up and changing the fuel to proper aviation kerosene, it becomes replicable in reality.

The most challenging part of the ramjet engine, which requires the most simulation computing power and wind tunnel testing, is the internal cavity design, which is completed by the shipyard research institute. Apart from the limitations of materials and electronics, it can reach the top level. After all, in principle, the ramjet engine is much simpler than the turbofan engine, and its maintainability and reliability are also much higher.

With the idea in place and the right talent available, it's time to put it into practice.

Tang Wen initiated the XG-98 project, modeled after NASA's X demonstrator series, with the goal of conducting combined propulsion verification based on the BR715 with a thrust of 10 tons and a 10-ton ramjet engine provided by the shipyard.

The XG-98 demonstrator will be designed according to the aerodynamic characteristics of a large supersonic passenger aircraft, both to verify the feasibility of the combined propulsion route and to conduct preliminary research on the aerodynamic shape of a supersonic passenger aircraft.

The XG-98 was expected to have an empty weight of only five or six tons. Tang Wen believed that Gaijin's overall capabilities were sufficient to complete the task independently, and thus entrusted this important task to Cao Xinquan.

The latter originally thought that returning to China would most likely involve flying passenger planes, but who knew he would be given a project that looked extremely similar to a military aircraft. While feeling a little uneasy, he thought of his considerable reward and finally patted his chest to guarantee that he would complete the task.

However, although Tang Wen valued it, he did not demand that the XG-98 succeed. The supersonic passenger aircraft field was just Geijin's attempt in a new field. In any case, the investment in the demonstrator was not large, so failure would not matter.

After acquiring the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, Gaijin now has four aviation technology centers in Shanghai, Hongdu, Echeng, and Yangcheng, with a total research force of over 2000 people and more than 1 employees. It can be considered a large-scale integrated R&D and production consortium, and should be exploring new fields.

For the remainder of July, Changbus's main task was to reorganize the assets and projects of the Shanghai aircraft manufacturing plant and streamline the workforce.

Of the total 2500 employees, more than 300 engineers/designers, more than 800 skilled workers, a dozen or so managers, and nearly half of the remaining staff were laid off with pay.

But in addition to layoffs, Jobs was also hiring. Since the cooperation with McDonnell Douglas was completely terminated in 1996, the factory lost about 1100 employees in two years, more than 100 of whom were technical backbones, and they were rehired.

The legacy of the Shanghai aircraft manufacturing plant is quite substantial, including a complete production line and final assembly workshop for assembling the McDonnell Douglas MD-82, as well as testing and inspection equipment. Its main current work is to secretly repair military aircraft and undertake outsourced component manufacturing for Boeing (such as tail fins).

The infrastructure here is no worse than that of the First Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, and it can undertake the manufacturing of the C919 after being upgraded.

At this time, the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Plant still possessed three Y-10 prototypes and maintained a support team. Among them, prototype No. 02 had conducted flight tests and was relatively well-preserved. After inspection, the airframe could be repaired and resumed flight. The Y-10 program was naturally no longer necessary at this point, but repairing it would be of great national significance and still serve as a reference for the C919. Tang Wen readily approved funding specifically for the repair and resumption of flight operations of prototype No. 02.

Changbus's plan was to use the aircraft after it was repaired as a testing platform for new radars, engines, or other new technologies, so it wouldn't be a waste.

In just over half a month, Changbushi, wielding the golden sword of authority, carried out sweeping reforms and restructuring. The company, which was known as the darkest hour for passenger planes, not only did not collapse after laying off more than half of its employees, but instead recovered at an unimaginable speed.

Upgrading equipment to undertake two major projects, the C919 and the restoration of the Y-10, not only energized the aircraft factory, but also brought new orders and R&D needs to all the auxiliary parts factories that used to support the factory.

At the end of July, a Saab 2000 and a Saab 340 medium-sized aircraft landed at Pudong Airport, and a design team of more than 7 people officially entered the Shanghai aircraft manufacturing plant to start working.

In this era, many large foreign companies, relying on their technological advantages, have been using the guise of joint ventures to get domestic companies to invest money without sharing their technology, or even to take advantage of domestic funds for free. This has become the norm, as seen in projects such as the AE200 Asian passenger aircraft and the Galileo navigation system.

However, Eric dared not do so. After the news of the expected production capacity of 1,000 C919s was released, the three major manufacturers began to harass Geiger incessantly, trying their best to snatch this big order.

Sabo is like a bodyguard who was chosen by a Korean chaebol heiress to be used as a shield. When he opens his eyes, he is surrounded by rich, handsome, domineering CEOs and rivals. At this moment, he can't wait to go to the bridal chamber and have a baby. How can he dare to play hard to get or use tricks?
Saab not only sent its elite passenger aircraft design team, but also transported the design blueprints of the Saab 2000 to the Shanghai aircraft manufacturing plant for free sharing and learning, eager to bring the C919 to life as soon as possible.

Of course, why are the R&D and production bases of Nansha Aircraft Manufacturing Company located in Shanghai? That's a minor issue. Currently, this company, with a registered capital of 50 billion yuan, only has one office and a signboard at the First Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

Saab's attitude won Tang Wen's favor, and he took the opportunity to go to Shanghai to carefully examine the Saab 340/Saab 2000 passenger planes.

To be honest, this small plane that can carry more than 30 people looks quite exquisite and beautiful, but as for its practicality...

"We don't need this kind of aircraft."

Although it was a bit hurtful to say this in front of Saab's engineers, Changbus still told the truth:
"Airplanes are high-end consumer goods in China. Direct flights are mostly for medium- and long-distance routes. There is no low-cost carrier market for small passenger planes."

Tang Wen nodded in agreement. Now, he could occasionally drink baijiu (Chinese liquor) when he flew, and he could feel the obvious respect from the flight attendants' service etiquette—in this era, not everyone could afford to fly.

The better the service attitude and the higher the threshold of an industry, the more prestigious it appears to outsiders, which is precisely a sign that it is not widespread enough.

Just as many people will regard drinking coffee as a fashionable and sophisticated thing for the next ten years or so, this impression will be immediately dispelled when Luckin Coffee's 9.9 coffee shop opens all over the country.

Although Spring Airlines, which was later condemned as evil, was so stingy that it tried to sell standing tickets, it must be admitted that low-cost carriers are the only way to truly benefit the whole society from air passenger transport.

"However, I must correct one point: we have not developed the low-cost carrier market."

Tang Wen continued, "The flight cost of a jet airliner is in the tens of thousands per hour, but what about piston engines or small turboprop engines?"
At the county and town level, if there were a general-purpose single-engine small passenger aircraft that could carry fewer than 15 passengers and weigh less than 5 tons, the unit price could be reduced to just over 100 yuan, while long-distance buses currently cost 40 or 50 yuan.

Airplanes are faster and newer; there's no reason why no one should buy them.

The Saab engineer standing nearby understood Chinese and became increasingly excited as he listened. This was exactly the market Saab had been trying to develop. In their view, a vast area like Tokyo with difficult-to-build roads should be suitable for the widespread use of small passenger transport.

The savings from operating small planes go far beyond just fuel and maintenance costs. A large portion of the expenses for jet airliners goes to airports for scheduling, command, parking, maintenance, and depreciation, while small planes can land anywhere on a dirt runway without paying any extra fees.

Changbus poured cold water on the idea, saying, "But the Civil Aviation Administration hasn't opened up low-altitude routes, and with so many counties and towns across the country, it would be too complicated to operate."

Of course, China has considered the low-altitude economy, but at that time, air passenger transport was state-owned. If airports were opened all over the country and small planes were operated, where would there be so many professional pilots and ground staff?

Moreover, low-altitude airspace is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force, and every flight route must be reported. If there were small planes everywhere, the Air Force would probably be unable to approve all the flight route applications, so there has been no progress.

Tang Wen raised an eyebrow: "So, this is where private commercial aviation has an advantage. It depends on the private sector to develop it on its own, as well as opening up low-altitude areas without approval or allowing local governments to approve routes themselves."

"Opening up low-altitude airspace is easy, but how can civilians train pilots? The only way for ordinary people to learn to fly is to become a pilot."

Changbu's statement is true. In fact, before China established its own civil aviation pilot training system, the main sources of pilots were retired pilots and foreign pilots. There was no training channel at all, which resulted in pilots' remuneration being quite inflated.

Even if Gaijin were incredibly capable, he couldn't conjure up pilots out of thin air. Moreover, training pilots is an enormous expense, which is a major factor suppressing short-haul air transport routes. The operating revenue of small aircraft can't even cover the pilots' salaries because it's simply too high.

"Actually, training junior pilots is not as difficult as you might imagine, is it? Dawan Technical School has trained at least a hundred seaplane pilots and even a dozen carrier-based pilots."

Tang Wen then revealed his plan:
"With the abundance of propeller planes in Gaijin, we can recruit pilots everywhere, apply for a small passenger aircraft license, and charge a fee that is not too high. After the first few batches of students graduate, we will guarantee them a job as low-altitude passenger pilots."

The second point is to stimulate public enthusiasm for aviation. I only have a few thoughts on this yet, but it's an essential aspect that cannot be ignored.

Changbos seemed to be convinced, but then raised the final, core question:

How can you be sure the Civil Aviation Administration will listen to you and do this?

"I probably wouldn't have been able to before, but now I'm 80% sure."

Tang Wen explained:
"I had this idea when I founded Gaikin Airlines, but the time was not right. Now the time has come. As for the reason... I can't say for now, but I am very confident."

Although Gekin Airlines won't officially begin operations until 00, we should be able to conduct local trials in certain areas before then without any obstacles.

(End of this chapter)