Chapter 146 - 142 The Sole Purpose_1

In the cockpit of the An-1250, the captain manually pushed the throttle to the bottom, and the 8 engines combined to unleash 264 tons of thrust, directly disturbing the airspace above the entire airport.

The plane’s acceleration was faster than imagined. Now the An-1250, with no load and less fuel, reached a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.6, which was on par with early fighters. The numerous wheels also meant that the average ground pressure wasn’t excessive, so the An-1250 was actually a super heavy-weight that moved with the agility of a swallow.

In the eyes of the higher-ups, the tall An-1250, whether in length or height, surpassed any of the 7,000-ton warships they had seen, not to mention the exaggerated wingspan. In this moment, it resembled a warship rapidly taxiing on the runway, passing by everyone in merely ten seconds or so.

When the An-1250 zipped past them on the runway, it had already accelerated to 200 kilometers per hour. If it were a small car, it might have flashed by instantly, but for the 130-meter length An-1250, it stubbornly stayed in their line of sight for a full three seconds, for a moment filling their entire field of vision!

It looked like a train. The speed of over 200 kilometers per hour didn’t seem fast on its huge frame, making it feel like it was moving at less than 100 kilometers per hour.

But the airflow stirred up by the An-1250 quickly told them this was an illusion. Its massive nose forcefully opened a path in the air, and after the plane passed, air from the surroundings immediately rushed towards the low-pressure area behind the tail. People felt the hurricane blowing from behind, towards the runway.

Tao Changhong almost calculated the An-1250’s terrifyingly large cross-sectional area based on the wind force, not even bothering to straighten his wind-blown coat as he turned to watch the An-1250, which had already reached a speed of 290 kilometers per hour, and was beginning to lift its nose.

Thanks to the extra efficiency generated by the slats below, the two test pilots in the cockpit didn’t feel heavy at all. They just gently pulled back on the controls, and the fly-by-wire flight control deflected the ailerons, effortlessly lifting the front six wheels.

From the perspective of the crowd behind the plane, the An-1250, whose massive size seemed almost unchanged, suddenly lifted upwards. It was then that the wings, so wide they felt they could cover half of the airport, were truly prominent, like a giant petrel spreading its wings wide.

In less than four seconds, the An-1250 fully left the ground at a climb angle of 22 degrees, with its 440-ton body soaring into the sky.

The eight 330KN engines’ jet streams were very noticeable at this point, tracing the An-1250’s takeoff path like footprints through sand.

Meanwhile, over ten kilometers away at B-level Base, a group of aviation enthusiasts who had come to Tiger Mountain Airport to check things out suddenly felt a slight vibration in their car windows, as if a loud noise was coming from outside.

When they rolled down their windows while also slowing down, as enthusiasts they immediately recognized the roar of jet engines, and it had to be a subsonic airliner or transport plane.

The sound grew louder, indicating the jet was flying towards their location, so they simply stopped the car and got out to stay put.

Thanks to their own experience, they judged it to be a quite large plane, possibly a large transport like the Y-20, and without hesitation, someone took out a camera to aim upward in advance.

Then they witnessed a sight they would never forget:

The blue sky was filled with light white clouds scattered in stripes, yet at that moment, an astonishingly large exaggerated flying object was forcefully breaking through the clouds. Its massive volume, like an aircraft carrier in the sky, involuntarily made one shiver.

The An-1250 was too big, too wide, and the turbulent airflow it caused too strong. As it climbed above 800 meters and started to encounter the clouds, it was like a squeegee passing over a girlfriend’s leg covered in depilatory cream, using its enormous body to clear the area it traversed, leaving blue sky in its wake.

The one holding the camera was the first to react, turning on the video to fully capture the An-1250 emerging and disappearing into the clouds. There was even a feeling that the plane was too big to fit on the camera’s screen.

As the completely unfamiliar behemoth continued to climb and vanish, its trail was still remarkably clear – a rectangular gap in the clouds at least 200 meters wide and kilometers long!

After a while, the few who returned to their senses from the shock hurriedly crowded around the camera, watching the footage of the passing monster repeatedly, daring to believe they had really seen such a large aircraft.

"Is that... the An-225?"

"No, she has eight engines, a full eight! And even the An-225 is smaller than her!"

"Wait, did you see the serial number on her fuselage? It’s from the Civil Aviation Administration. We can look it up right now; the information must be on their website!"

"Go get the computer, and hurry!"

...

The first flight procedure for the An-1250 was very simple, just circling the base once before flying back.

But because its airframe was so large, the turning radius was also quite exaggerated, so the actual flight path ended up being a wide circle skimming the edge of the airspace under New Yuan’s control, seen by countless onlookers.

Even with such a wide turning radius, it remained constantly in people’s view, effortlessly observable.

The higher-ups watched half of the flight with gratification and sentimentality before turning towards the area where several aircraft design institute researchers were located.

Their expressions were unanimous at that moment: bewildered and shocked.

According to the education system they had been through and their work experience, how could such a massive thing so easily succeed!

Yet the An-1250 had already completed a whole circle in flight, was about to enter the landing trajectory, align with the runway, and start its descent—clearly demonstrating to them that the project had succeeded.

The complexion of the big shot from the space agency was rather complex as he put his hand on Lin Ju’s shoulder:

"Honestly, when is New Yuan No. 3 flying?"

"Around June 10th, the mission starts in July. It’ll take at least a month for the two An-1250s to fly and begin their transport tasks, so the timing is about right."

"...So you built the An-1250 just for that?"

Lin Ju: "Not just for that, there’s also the New Yuan-2A. The CBC configuration requires three core stages. An An-1250 can easily fit one in its belly, and with a fairing, two more can be strapped on top. One trip and it’s done. An Il-76 would need to make three trips—nowhere near as efficient."

After listening, Big Shot let out a sigh, turned his back to the An-1250 that was beginning to decrease altitude in preparation for landing and spoke with a voice suddenly sounding much older:

"CZ-10 is also launching in July. Our schedule isn’t as flexible as private companies’, only yielding one launch every six months even at full mobilization—and that’s already an unimaginable pace. Yet you’re still faster."

Lin Ju: "But space is a race against time. It’s really just a different attitude. For New Yuan, space is the sole reason for its existence, the only purpose, and for this, it will stop at nothing."

"Space is the sole reason for New Yuan’s existence?"

"Yes, or rather, it’s the sole reason for my existence."

Others failed to notice that the last sentence was spoken with a slight bitter smile.