PLAN Aircraft Carrier programme...(Closed)

Franklin said:

It was discussed before. The Liaoning doesn't have a testing rig for the engines. I don't know if they are planning to fix the engines on board. But if they do they will have to test the engines on the flight deck after it has been installed into the plane.

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and while that will not be most efficient, it will be the most practical, chain the J-15 down away from air-ops, personnel, etc with the exhaust venting over board and light her up, in reality, every aircraft gets "run up" prior to the first flight of the day, and at the pilots discretion after that. Bottom line is, if its out of normal operating temps, pressures etc, it is OFF flight status, and back to the hangar. If they confine their scope of ops close to home, you take sixteen birds with four designated as "spares", and work on them when you get home if they require "heavy maintenance"...You usually have four-six tied down on deck as the "alert" aircraft anyway.

Sometimes I think the PLAN should have gone for another plane then the Flanker. Its just too big for the Liaoning and even if the next carrier will be bigger and better designed it will still be more difficult to handle on deck then a smaller plane. Having a big plane like the Flanker gives you range and payload. And if you fit it with a giant AESA radar and catapults it will give you capabilities that smaller planes like the MiG-29K and F/A-18's don't or couldn't give you. The downside is you might have to have a smaller air wing and the deck handling is a nightmare. Its a question of making compromises.

Interesting note: The ski jump on the Admiral Kuznetsov is angled at 12 degrees. Those on the Liaoning and the Vikramaditya are angled at 14 degrees. That should provide some extra lift.

Franklin said:

Sometimes I think the PLAN should have gone for another plane then the Flanker. Its just too big for the Liaoning and even if the next carrier will be bigger and better designed it will still be more difficult to handle on deck then a smaller plane.

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Respectfully disagree. I think the Flanker is the BEST choice for PLAN as far as naval aviation goes. Now with that being said as discussed earlier is it the ideal type for a carrier like the Liaoning? No. However PLAN is thinking far beyond Liaoning. They are thinking CV/CVNs because that is what the Chinese fleet will ultimately be consists of. I think the picked the Flankers based on that assumption.

Keep in mind also that Liaoning was purchased in 1998 when China's economy was a fraction of what it is today and then sat as a harbor queen for a decade or more.... If the planners back then had went with a aircraft based on Liaoning's size they would've regretted but if there's one think we know about PLAN or China in general is they think really long term. I see Flanker variants flying the skies for many many more decades to come because the basic hull and engineering design is very sound and it's much easier to future proof an aircraft like that.

kwaigonegin said:

The Kutz class (Liaoning) do not have opening on the stern or fantail to test jet engines. The best they could do is to tie down on the aft elevators for testing the jets. My guess is they will do it in extreme cases but probably not on a regular basis like USN but they may not need to because Liaoning probably won't venture too far off into the other side of the world like USN carriers. Home port is probably not too far away at most times.

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Old Salt off topic rant;

I remember working night check and that stinkin' VAQ-133 use to test their engines on the angle deck on America. Those Prowlers are louder than any other aircraft aboard the ship. My shop was on the 02 level under the island and those Prowlers make such a racket they can drown out anything..

End off topic Old Salt rant.

bd popeye said:

Old Salt off topic rant;

I remember working night check and that stinkin' VAQ-133 use to test their engines on the angle deck on America. Those Prowlers are louder than any other aircraft aboard the ship. My shop was on the 02 level under the island and those Prowlers make such a racket they can drown out anything..

End off topic Old Salt rant.

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Just wait till the little ThunderHogge II takes her berth, both the B and the C, she is a "screamer" from what we understand??? Oh, I just love it when you go OT and Rant BD, you are so good at it, and I always learn some of that Kool "stuff", that you just won't hear anywhere else.... these anecdotal stories from real life "characters" give the rest of us the "flavor", of life on board ship. I just loved to hear my Old Man and his cronies telling "stories", some were absolutely true, I'm sure some of the others were "fabrications" and "enhancements", but that's part of what makes a flying story or shipboard stories Kool.... thanks Dad!

Just a last brief www-access before I'm back home tomorrow ... (via GT= CDF) !

Deino

Beautiful photos Deino!

I'm impatiently waiting for the ship to return to the sea.

Deino said:

Just a last brief www-access before I'm back home tomorrow ... (via GT= CDF) !

Deino

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Did someone touch up the photographs? The sky seems too clear.

Blackstone said:

Did someone touch up the photographs? The sky seems too clear.

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I was in Dalian a few weeks ago. It's a beautiful coastal city with clear blue skies unlike Beijing and other Chinese cities. I loved my time there.

Blackstone said:

Did someone touch up the photographs? The sky seems too clear.

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obviously you never been to China .....