China-made world's largest amphibious aircraft to fly in May

China's amphibious aircraft, stated to be the world's largest, will embark on its maiden flight in May from southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, officials said today.
The AG600 will conduct a full resonance test before its maiden flight over land on May in Guangdong province and on water in the second half of 2017, the Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) said.
The 37-meter aircraft, with a wingspan of 38.8 meters, has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes.
It can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.

With excellent maneuverability and a relatively wide search scope range, the AG600 will be very useful for marine resource exploitation, marine environmental monitoring, resource detection and transportation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.