AG600, China-made world's largest seaplane, completes maiden flight test

Powered by four domestically-built turboprop engines and with a range of 12 hours, it took off from Zhanghe Reservoir, stayed airborne for 15 minutes

China's indigenously designed and built amphibious aircraft AG600, touted as the world's largest, successfully carried out its first take-off and landing tests on Saturday.

The aircraft, developed and built by the state-owned aircraft firm Aviation Industry Corporation of China, took off and later landed on the water in Hubei province's Jingmen, state-run China Daily reported.

The seaplane took off from the Zhanghe Reservoir at 8:51 am (local time) and stayed airborne for about 15 minutes, said the report which also accompanied the videos of the aircraft's take off.

The aircraft code-named Kunlong was piloted by four crew members.

Early this month, it completed its first water taxiing trials at a high speed of 145 kilometres.

Designed to be the world's largest amphibious aircraft, AG600 is powered by four domestically-built turboprop engines and has a range of 12 hours.

It will be mainly used for maritime rescue, fighting forest fires and marine monitoring, according to an earlier report by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The aircraft has passed a series of tests since its maiden flight last December. It successfully finished eight taxiing tests on water at a speed of 80 km per hour and 120 km per hour.