The AVIC AC332 is a Chinese civil

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

that is under development by the

Aviation Industry Corporation of China The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is a Chinese state-owned publicly-traded aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Beijing. AVIC is overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the ...

(AVIC). The AC 332's chief designer at AVIC is Li Shengwei. The aircraft is intended to be

type certified A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). Certification confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production is in compliance w ...

for production. The design

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

had its

first flight First Flight may refer to: * Maiden flight, the first flight of a new aircraft type * First Flight Airport, in North Carolina, United States * First Flight High School, in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina * ''First Flight'' (sculpture), a sculp ...

on 7 April 2023. The AC332 designation was previously applied to an unrelated project for a scaled down version of the Russian

Mil Mi-26 The Mil Mi-26 (, NATO reporting name: Halo) is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter. Its product code is ''Izdeliye 90''. Operated by both military and civilian operators, it is the largest helicopter to have gone into serial product ...

that was to have first flown in 2032.

Design and development

The aircraft is intended as a

utility helicopter A utility helicopter is a multi-purpose helicopter capable of pursuing a wide array of tasks. They have proven useful in both civilian and military operations, with versatility being their defining trait. Civilian Helicopters play a crucial ...

for personnel transport,

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, including high

density altitude The density altitude is the altitude relative to standard atmospheric conditions at which the air density would be equal to the indicated air density at the place of observation. In other words, the density altitude is the air density given as ...

operations. The design features a single, four-bladed main rotor, a

fenestron A Fenestron (sometimes alternatively referred to as a fantail or a "fan-in-fin" arrangementLeishman 2006, p. 321.) is an enclosed helicopter tail rotor that operates like a ducted fan. The term ''Fenestron'' is a trademark of multinational helic ...

tail rotor, twin engines, an enclosed cabin and skid-type

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

. The design has seating for two crew members and ten passengers. It is expected to have a lower price than comparable western helicopters. The aircraft has a gross weight of , a maximum cruising speed of , a

service ceiling With respect to aircraft performance, a ceiling is the maximum density altitude an aircraft can reach under a set of conditions, as determined by its flight envelope. Service ceiling Service ceiling is the density altitude at which the rate o ...

of and a range of . Maximum take-off altitude is . The

was first flown on 7 April 2021 and type certification is forecast to be completed in 2025. Aviation writer Mark Huber described the design as "stylistically a cross between the

Bell 429 The Bell 429 GlobalRanger is a light, twin-engine helicopter developed by Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Industries. The first flight of the prototype took place on February 27, 2007,Airbus H145 The Airbus Helicopters H145, formerly the Eurocopter EC145, is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. Originally designated as the ''BK 117'', the H145 is based upon the MBB/Kawasaki BK 117, MB ...

Operators

In April 2023, the company reported that it had orders for 24 aircraft, including six for an aircraft leasing company based in

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

and 18 for a consortium of Chinese general aviation operators.

Specifications (AC332)

References

{{AVIC aircraft AC332 2020s Chinese helicopters 2020s Chinese civil aircraft Twin-engined aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2023

Design and development

Operators

Specifications (AC332)

See also

References