Chinese Trainer Aircraft (JL-8, JL-9, JL-10 (L-15), etc.)
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
Quickie
Colonel
Lol. I think it's a test model with some part of the paintwork yet to be done or just painted over.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
It might be fugly, but it probably only costs a fraction of the L15 to both buy and operate, and also makes use of the huge amount of J7 parts and machinery the PLAAF has stockpiled over the decades of J7 use, not to mention the reduced training needs for older ground crews who probably spent their entire careers servicing the J7.
For most training needs, a JL9 would work just as well as an L15.
It’s like learning to drive a car. Most of it is just down to clocking up hours behind the wheel (or stick in this case).
They can save the L15 for the advanced stuff, which will only be a small part of the overall syllabus.
With both JL9s and L15 FBW able to replicate the flight characteristics of frontline combat aircraft, and I would expect instrumentation to also be standardised and a clone of what pilots can expect on the likes of the J10 and J11 etc, there should be minimal difference between switching between the JL9, L15 or a real combat jet.
Quickie
Colonel
Thanks for the info. Looks to me they did some work on the aircraft and didn't bother to redo the paintwork. There are patches here and there and part of the AVIC logo is missing.
Small correction .... that's not the L-15B but an improved L-15A.
It has the engines without afterburner and the standard nose w/o radar or the longer nose.
Deino
Last edited:
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Shan Ying JL-9