Published : 2024-09-26

On September 26, 1980, China's first domestically developed jetliner, Y-10 or Yun-10 (運-10), successfully completed its maiden flight.

At 9:35 am that day, 02 model of Y-10, piloted by chief test pilot Wang Jinda (王金大), successfully took off from Shanghai Dachang Airport.

With an altitude of 1,350 metres, the maiden flight lasted in the air for a significant 28 minutes. The flight conditions were good, and all systems worked normally.

In the early years following the founding of New China, the focus of the aviation industry was mainly on military aircraft. The H-6 and Yun-8 were successful produced in the 1960s.

By August 1970, Shanghai received the task of trial production of a large transport aircraft, codenamed the "708 Project", with the aircraft being named "Y-10".

The design work for the Y-10 began in full in the spring of 1972, and by August of that year, the overall plan was basically mature.

The conclusion of the collective review from experts was that "the guiding thought of the aircraft design is fundamentally correct; the overall design scheme is generally feasible; the structural layout, system design, and equipment adoption is fundamentally reasonable; the performance is close to the level of similar aircraft in the world, and it has certain advantages. It can be realised with effort”.

After the design plan was perfected, the first batch of two 01 and 02 aircraft were manufactured.

However, the Y-10 was mostly a copy of the Boeing 707/720. Even if it had achieved the same level, it was only equivalent to the level of foreign first-generation jetliners in the early 1960s.

Considering technical shortcomings, lack of funds, as well as the extremely high operating costs due to insufficient market potential, the further research and development funding plan of Y-10 was vetoed in 1986, and the related work was completely terminated.