Chapter 653 - 637: Heading Toward the Speed of Sound

February 1st, Hongqiao Airport.

A diverse group of elites stood on the tarmac, applauding and cheering for the C832 passenger plane being towed out of its parking spot.

This aircraft flew from Rong City to Modu City yesterday, and it’s worth mentioning that the pilots controlling them were from United Airlines. They would fly directly to the other side of the Pacific from here.

The aircraft registered as N755C1 was the first C832 to be exported abroad and the first large, domestically produced airliner that America Airlines had purchased from within the country, making it highly significant.

In July, leveraging the failure of Artemis II, Commercial Aviation managed to obtain export qualifications for 300 units of C822 and 100 units of C832. Owing to the pressure at the time, numerous American airlines also placed orders, totaling a considerable seventy to eighty aircraft.

However, according to the agreement at the time, some non-core components like the de-icing device, landing gear, and cabin windows were contracted to international companies. Although the C832 utilized standard parts in its design, it still took half a year to gather all the parts and assemble this "international" jumbo jet.

Among the first batch of models available for export, there were 9 units of C832 and 14 units of C822, distributed among six different airlines—three from America, two from Southeast Asia, and one European Airline.

In the bustling crowd were Commercial Aviation’s CEO, Zeng Xiangdong, Boeing’s Vice President, Shepard, and Star Airlines’ CEO, Androff.

"Zeng, congratulations to you. You’ve exported a large aircraft capable of transoceanic flights to America, which is truly remarkable.

Moreover, your planes are quite impressive; it’s hard to believe that they come from a new up-and-coming aviation company," said Shepard, expressing his genuine feelings. Although agreeing to the purchase was somewhat forced, America would not let up in seeking issues elsewhere. United Airlines, in sending crews to familiarize themselves with the aircraft, allowed established companies like Boeing and Rom to send technical experts under the guise of safety inspections, specifically to nitpick the planes.

To the experts’ surprise, the design of both the C832 and C822 was quite mature.

Although some details revealed the design team’s lack of experience, there were no fatal flaws or severe mistakes.

Aside from some structural designs which were hard to evaluate due to different design approaches, other aspects such as workmanship and materials were impeccable. It was evident that the production used a large-scale manufacturing process rather than the meticulous efforts of a small number of highly skilled craftsmen.

If mechanical aspects were a grudging opportunity to nitpick, conjuring up some negligible defects, electronic controls left these experts with nothing to criticize.

Beyond the fact that fly-by-wire control systems, by their nature, require extensive flight experience to test reliability, it was also challenging to pinpoint further issues. What’s more, the C832 and C822’s fly-by-wire controls were based on ternary electronic technology, which was not easily evaluated using traditional experiences.

In July, along with the finalized airplane export contract, two chip production lines were also included. Fully aware of the danger in delay, the Science and Technology Commission constantly urged action, seizing the moment to purchase two 28nm and 22nm chip production lines from TSMC at a reasonable price. It took three months to dismantle, transport, and install them.

During the tuning process, they were modified and used to produce a small batch of ternary chips, which proved much better than the domestic 28nm process—not only reducing heat and power consumption but also achieving a performance boost.

The first users of these chips were the passenger planes. They effortlessly satisfied the fly-by-wire control requirements and sailed through the stringent FAA tests.

Even according to the United Airlines trainee pilots, should they encounter troublesome severe weather, they must trust the automatic landing systems, as the planes’ system reliability was even higher than most pilots.

This genuinely piqued the interest of the two aviation giants, who were keen to secretly study the ternary electronic system in depth.

Of course, they were still skeptical that a fledgling aviation company could possess such design prowess. Even with the involvement of XAP and a military-industrial complex, expertise in large aircraft design and technical level were not directly correlated.

Adding to this was Androff’s restlessness with the spate of incidents at their base and the suspiciously similar design of the An-1250 to Russia’s An-225, leading them to suspect that Russia had gone mad, selling a large amount of aviation technology and expertise, which could barely explain the situation.

Shepard’s flattery was well-received by both Zeng Xiangdong and Androff, but Boeing’s presence here was naturally not just a simple congratulatory gesture for the aircraft delivery.

Androff first thanked him for his praise, then said,

"The C832 is just the first step in our cooperation. In the future, the real star of the aviation industry will be the C1000 and the B3707.

Mr. Shepard, I think we should let the public know the travel speed of the 21st century. Forty years ago, people needed more than ten hours to cross the Pacific Ocean. It would be quite disappointing if nothing has changed now."

Shepard replied, "That’s right. The age of information requires speed, thrice the speed of sound. After that, people will no longer need to sleep on intercontinental flights."

The two were discussing the development of a trans-Pacific supersonic flight route, which had been essentially accepted domestically. Boeing and NACA managed to persuade the military and had quietly gotten the "Supersonic Flight Bill" passed by Congress ten days earlier, allowing the opening of supersonic flight routes in certain areas.

The bill passed very discreetly, with mainstream media only vaguely mentioning it, while those with noses keener than dogs—that is, human rights and environmental organizations—remained silent, showing no signs of opposition.

Feeling assured, Boeing was finally free from worry about a hasty conclusion like that of the 2707 and began to develop the next-generation B3707 supersonic passenger plane with great enthusiasm.

It wasn’t just about the lucrative profits from the supersonic routes; another significant boost was the Air Force’s hope to use this as an opportunity to research some aero-space plane technology, with a firm requirement for a cruising speed three times the speed of sound, effectively set in stone.

Androff, agitated by the repeated changes at the base, cleared his gloom and was ready to throw himself into the development of the C1000 passenger jet with all his might.

To avoid further mishaps, two American airlines and China Eastern Airlines each ordered 15 units of the C1000 or B3707, paying a partial deposit and agreeing that the first test flight must occur before 2019 and the first aircraft delivered within 2020, or else they would face astronomical penalties.

Shepard and Androff both felt secure and shook hands enthusiastically, while Zeng Xiangdong was even happier to see the deal go through.

Although the C1000 was designed by Star Airlines, they were not planning to manufacture it themselves. Their position was more akin to a design bureau and a key subsystems manufacturer, with Commercial Aviation responsible for aircraft assembly.

The Yizhou Large Aircraft Manufacturing Base was confirmed to be completed by June and would officially start operating and producing aircraft in July. The orders for the C822, C832, and C1000 models have already ensured a promising future, paving the way for them to become one of the leading aviation conglomerates.