Following the 1999 World Air Race masters flying through Zhangjiajie Tianmen Cave and the Chinese pilots flying across the Taihu Bridge in 2000, the Chinese Sichuan "Sanxingdui" was held in Guanghan, Sichuan from July 13 to 16, 2001. International Flying Day.
On July 16th, the last day of the Special Flying Festival, CCTV 1 and 5 broadcasted the closing ceremony and closing performance of the Special Flying Festival live from 10:00 to 11:50. The real climax of the Special Flying Festival - the "C" guess in the closing performance has become the focus of hundreds of millions of viewers.
“C” word guess
In November last year, Chen Lin, chairman of the Sichuan Aviation Club, led the Blue Dream Flying Team to participate in the flight show at the Zhuhai Air Show. After the air show, he specially invited Monet, Director General of the International Air Federation World Air Races, to visit the Sanxingdui Cultural Site in Sichuan. When the car passed the Sanxingdui Bridge, Chen Lin stopped the car, pointed to the natural cross-river pipeline next to the Duck River Bridge and said: Can we organize a cross-flight here like we organized across the Taihu Bridge? Monette faced the bridge, looked at the cross-river natural gas pipeline on the right, and then looked at the cross-river high-voltage transmission line on the left, but did not express his position for a long time.
Yes! In Zhangjiajie in 1999, 15 special flight experts rushed to fly through Tianmen Cave. That was because Tianmen Cave was very big: 127.33 meters high and 57.54 meters wide at its widest point. Moreover, there is good clearance at both ends of the hole, making it easier to fly through. On December 11, 7 people were originally scheduled to cross, but in the end, 14 people flew across: 2 flew upside down; 2 rolled; 2 somersaulted; and there were also two or four planes crossing in overlapping formations. On December 12, when a formation of 15 aerobatic aircraft passed over the airport to bid farewell to Zhangjiajie, one of the aircraft left the formation and flew straight to Tianmen Cave. It seems that the pilot did not want to take away the lifelong regret of not passing through Tianmen Cave when he arrived in Zhangjiajie.
In Taihu Lake in 2000, the day before the crossing, Monette took the applicants Jurgis Kerris and Peter Bessenye by car to the Taihu Lake Bridge and measured it in person with a ruler. Check whether the width (34.91 meters) and height (6.56 meters) of the main bridge opening are true. Because Monette knows very well that no one in the world has ever flown a plane across such a low bridge.
Although the Taihu Bridge is a little lower, fortunately, there is good clearance at both ends and there are no obstacles. This is not the case with the Sanxingdui cross-river natural gas pipeline, which is very difficult and dangerous.
The cross-river natural gas pipeline is 12 meters away from the water and 45 meters wide. However, 75 meters in front of it is the impassable 6-meter-high Sanxingdui Stone Bridge. 75 meters further forward is another huge insurmountable obstacle composed of five high-voltage transmission lines (from 30 meters to 50 meters high). This means that after the aerobatic aircraft passes under a 12-meter-high natural gas pipeline at a flying speed of 70 to 80 meters per second, the pilot must pull up the nose of the aircraft to cross the bridge and make a sharp turn in less than 2 seconds. Return to fly. This flight trajectory is like a "C"; otherwise, it will hit a bridge or high-voltage transmission line, and the consequences can be imagined. For ultralight aircraft with narrow speed range, small remaining horsepower, slow control and poor maneuverability, it is very difficult and dangerous to complete the "C" shape flight. Since this flight is quite suspenseful and its success or failure is unpredictable, people named it "C" guess.
The "C" word breaks through the barrier
The Sanxingdui cross-river natural gas pipeline is more than 10 kilometers away from the airport. Due to weather reasons, the organizing committee moved the International Aerobatic Festival and the "C" Crossing, a rare aerobatic display in the world, to be held at the Sichuan Guanghan Civil Aviation University Airport. The "natural gas pipeline" and "stone bridge" were imitated at l:l actual size. The "pipeline" is 10 meters high and 42 meters wide. The "Stone Bridge" is 6 meters high and the distance between it and the "Pipeline" is only 70 meters.
On July 16, the scene at Guanghan Airport was very spectacular. Dozens of aircraft participating in the performance were lined up neatly on the tarmac, facing the audience, very close at hand. The "pipeline" and "bridge" just built next to the takeoff runway read "Long Live the Motherland", "Beijing Wins", "Hometown of Sanxingdui" and huge paintings and slogans; followed by 21 colorful hot air balloons, including Tens of meters high.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, as three radio-controlled model aircraft flew over each carrying a slogan "Congratulations on Beijing's successful bid for the Olympics", the special flight festival kicked off. 21 skydiving athletes from the National Skydiving Team performed performances such as Rainbow in the Sky, Clever Layers of Arhats, and Fairies Scattering Flowers; 5 light aircraft formations passed through the field; 6 aircraft formations of the Chinese Flying Team; 3 aircraft formation stunts of the Sichuan Aerobatic Team; British Soho Yi's two-plane aerobatic formation and the National Paramotor Demonstration Team's 21 paramotor stunt formation; experts from all walks of life performed on stage. There were applause and cheers at the airport.
At 11 o'clock, the most exciting scene of the Special Flying Festival-the "C" word guess finally arrived. The jubilant crowd suddenly calmed down. People watched as the Chinese pilots participating in the "C" crossing slowly passed by in light aircraft, silently blessing them and wishing them a successful crossing.
At 11:05, Zhao Jinguang from the Hebei Aviation School drove a half-cockpit Bee-4 aircraft into the runway and took off on time.
Two minutes later, he entered the waiting area. After receiving the "OK" instruction, he corrected the direction, corrected the crosswind, adjusted the height to 2 meters above the ground, and aimed at the middle of the "pipe"; "Go over! Pull up! Left Turn!" Several actions were completed in one go, taking only two or three seconds. The airport suddenly burst into cheers, and screams of "Success!" resounded through the sky. When the Bee-4 aircraft flew over and waved its wings in front of the jubilant audience, people roared with thunderous cheers and cheers again.
Following closely behind was Li Weiguo, a test pilot from Beijing Keyuan Aircraft Company. He flew the AD-200 light canard aircraft produced by the company, safely crossed the "pipeline" and made a "C" curve. flight. After that, Yang Shangfeng from the Zhejiang Aviation School (the first person to fly the Taihu Bridge last year) and Fan Yufang, a female flight instructor from the Datong Aviation School, both flew a Huiyan-650C light aircraft and made "C" A unique performance of calligraphy. When Fan Yufang got off the plane, photojournalists and aviation fans swarmed up to her, taking photos, interviewing, and signing autographs...
The next step was for 7 foreign special flying experts to fully demonstrate their superb stunts and excellent aircraft performance programs. Time limit is 5 minutes per person.
At 11:15, a burly young man, Boeing 737 captain and American Kobe Chambliss, drove his IQ-540 aerobatic aircraft onto the runway and took off. As soon as the plane left the land, it flew upside down, then turned upward, turned 180 degrees and headed straight for the "pipeline". He flew the plane once to warm up in a normal posture; after the second crossing, he pulled up vertically, followed by a series of dizzying rolls, soaring into the sky; then he dived straight down, and made an extremely difficult inverted "C" from the opposite direction. "Crossing the bridge, the wheels almost brushed the "bridge deck", which was extremely thrilling. People were sweating for him. Before the audience could breathe a sigh of relief, Kobe changed his flying posture and crossed again. At this time, Kobe was head down and his body was hanging in the air; after crossing, he immediately pushed the stick and his scalp rubbed the "bridge deck" as it passed. Finally, Kobe passed through twice more with sideways flying and rolling. He traveled through it 6 times in 5 minutes with different postures. People watched the exciting performance with heart-wrenching eyes.
At 11:20, the gentle Russian professional aerobatic pilot Viktor Temore, piloting the Su-26 aerobatic aircraft of the National Aviation Club, completed the climb after crossing in a normal posture He had a whole set of stunts pre-choreographed.
At 11:25, the women’s world aerobatics champion, Miss Suvetlana Kapanina of Russia, appeared. After she came to Sichuan this time, due to weather and physical reasons, she flew less often; therefore, she was cautious about the "C" crossing. She only performed a set of tumbling stunts after crossing in a normal posture.
At 11:30, Lithuania’s Jurgis Keris, a bridge drill expert, aerobatic aircraft test pilot, and professional aerobatic pilot, appeared. He drilled through 11 bridge holes in Europe; he participated in the design and manufacture of the Su-26, Su-29, and Su-31 aerobatic aircraft; he invented stunts such as the "Keris Spin" and "Small Somersault"; and performed stunts on propeller aircraft. "Cobra" unique skill, he is the first person in the world and the well-deserved world champion of aerobatics. This time he was flying a white Su-31 aircraft with his name "Jurgis Kairys" on it. Keris first made a normal "C" time travel (title picture). After passing through the pipeline for the second time, he stood the plane upright between the "pipeline" and the "bridge" and hovered like a helicopter, with the tail less than 10 meters above the ground. What a "Cobra" maneuver. His performance aroused the excitement of his peers and stunned the audience. It is impossible to complete the "Cobra" action at such a low altitude without extraordinary courage, superb skills and absolute certainty. If there is a slight error in the control, the plane will immediately lose control and crash to the ground, destroying the aircraft and killing everyone. There is no room for recovery. The "Cobra" flying stunt was originally invented by Pugachev while flying a Su-27 jet fighter at the Paris Air Show in 1989; later, it was also performed on high-speed jet fighters such as the Su-35 and Su-37. However, performing the "Cobra" maneuver on a propeller aircraft is a mystery even to the world's top special pilots: "How to control it?" "What's the key?" "Why doesn't it stall?" etc. So far, Keris is the only one in the world who can perform this difficult move, and he is so skilled and confident. After that, Kerris performed an inverted flight and a rolling "C" cross, which made people dazzled.
At 11:35, the famous British Sukhoi two-plane aerobatic formation made its debut. Engine No. 1 was piloted by Paul Benholm; Engine No. 2 was piloted by Steve Jones. They currently serve as captains of Boeing 737 and 777 passenger aircraft respectively at British Airways. Aerobatics was just one of their hobbies; they performed 450 public performances in ten years. Today, they first showed off their unique skill - "shadow flying" (the lead aircraft flies upside down, and the wingman flies forward and overlaps the lead aircraft); they performed difficult maneuvers such as overlapping circles and overlapping somersaults. The two cooperated with each other tacitly, like a pair of inseparable lovers from beginning to end. Finally, they performed a double-machine "C" cross.
At 11:40, it is the time for Hungarian professional aerobatic pilot and flight instructor Peter Bessenye to perform his skills. Peter was the first person to fly through Tianmen Cave in Zhangjiajie and has already become a news figure. Wherever he goes, there are always a lot of people surrounding him asking for his autograph and taking photos.
Peter is a very casual person. When taxiing, he always likes to twist around in the crowd, open the canopy and wave to the audience with both hands. In flight, he likes to fly along the grass and turn along the treetops. This time in Sichuan, he stole the show. He crossed the "C" character five times back and forth in different postures such as normal, flying sideways, and flying upside down, which was enough to satisfy his addiction to the "C" character crossing.
Finally, amid the cheerful music, the Sukhoi aircraft once again performed aerial ballet and double "C" crossing with graceful dance postures, bidding farewell to their hometown of Sanxingdui in a unique way.
The performance has ended long ago, but people still linger, immersed and intoxicated in the memories of dragons playing in the sea of ??clouds and Kunpeng dancing in the sky.
Editor in charge: Yu Lin■