China's transport, tanker & heavy lift aircraft

taxiya said:

Well, the screen shot is a frame from the CCTV4 video. I know it is not distorted by the width and height of the CCTV logo. But distortion or perspective don't play a role here.

The ceiling, the floor and the wall where the seats are mounted reach to the same point where videographer stands (the focal plane of lens) regardless lens perspective or distortion. This means the ceiling is as long as that many seats, way longer than the partition's height. Even if part of the ceiling is the partition, the question regarding the space above the other part is still a big question. I would have asked the same questions to C-17 if I found a photo of it like that.

Anyway, maybe an answer comes up in the future.

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I don't mean if the screen capture itself is distorted; I question if you can accurately judge the length of the partition from a somewhat head-on perspective, when a lot of length information is lost by the virtue of the perspective itself. I suspect the partition is quite a bit shorter than it appears in the photo. Furthermore, we have no evidence if the photographer was standing at the end of the cargo bay, which is to say that we can't tell if the partition goes all the way to the end of the cargo bay; and if it doesn't, then it's even shorter than it appears.

by78 said:

I don't mean if the screen capture itself is distorted; I question if you can accurately judge the length of the partition from a somewhat head-on perspective, when a lot of length information is lost by the virtue of the perspective itself. I suspect the partition is quite a bit shorter than it appears in the photo. Furthermore, we have no evidence if the photographer was standing at the end of the cargo bay, which is to say that we can't tell if the partition goes all the way to the end of the cargo bay; and if it doesn't, then it's even shorter than it appears.

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actually, I would question if the two photos are related at all.

in the photo you describe, #3477, it looks like it is only the aft fuselage section is there -- i.e.: the entire mid and forward fuselage is not part of the test rig at all. That is supported by the caption as well which says it is "rear/aft fuselage structural test"


OTOH, the photo that taxiya is talking about in #3476 is part of the aircraft's mid to forward fuselage/cargo hold, which is not part of the photo in #3477 at all, from what I can see.
However, to possibly answer taxiya's question, I would say that the cargo hold in the picture he's talking about is probably not representative of a real aircraft. I would say that it is almost certainly for a structural test aircraft, not least considering that we cannot see any windows on the sides/walls of the fuselage that you'd expect in a real aircraft and is instead filled with black boxes and electronics.

Also, note how the photo that taxiya is talking about, the forward fuselage that we can see has an incline at the front of the cargo bay leading to the door, which we know is not present in production Y-20s. (edit: I'll add that I considered whether the photo taxiya is talking about may be showing the Y-20's cargo hold looking aft rather than forward, which would explain the incline on the ground as part of the loading ramp, however I'm not sure why they would install a bulkhead+door arrangement at that location near the aft of the aircraft like that -- though overall it doesn't change the thrust of my next paragraph)

So, I would hazard to say that the top half of the cargo bay in that photo was probably being used for some sort of structural testing purposes. That is to say, I don't think the arrangement of the cargo bay in that photo should be interpreted as representative of any kind of real world or operational configuration...

Fifth and final part of the Y-20 documentary.

The partition is probably what taxiya initially suggested - an intermediate troop deck. Like the Il-76 and An-70, the Y-20 is clearly designed with this in mind - there are additional emergency exits provided at the level of the intermediate floor.

Both Bltizo's #3482 and Tirdent's #3484 are good thinking. Thanks for the ideas.
Regardless if the photo was about a test structure or real cargo bay, I think it is safe to say that Y-20 does have an intermediate troop deck. Not only because the photo indicate such arrangement, but the photos of production Y-20 has frontal emergency exist at that height. See the photo.

Small point but that door is to small for anyone to enter or exit from

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Small point but that door is to small for anyone to enter or exit from

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It is small indeed, and it is certainly never meant for enter, nor for exit in ordinary time. But it is half the height and width of the door, big enough for a full adult to exit in emergency, at least bigger than an submarine hatch.

Look inside the cargo bay, you can judge what it can be used for.

Yup, it's an emergency exit only. Ever seen the size of the overwing hatches on a 737 or A320?

taxiya said:

It is small indeed, and it is certainly never meant for enter, nor for exit in ordinary time. But it is half the height and width of the door, big enough for a full adult to exit in emergency, at least bigger than an submarine hatch.

Look inside the cargo bay, you can judge what it can be used for.

View attachment 48226

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Indeed just an emergency hatch. Beyond that, the frame of that exit is enhanced to accommodate pressure. Refer to below:

Y-9 over Mother Russia, or, rather, a dacha.

(797x1213)


(1500x1013)