China Guinness World Records: Largest amphibious aircraft

Shanghai, China – July 27, 2016 – China has completed production of the world’s largest amphibious aircraft after seven years of work, which it plans to use to perform marine rescue missions and fight forest fires; the AG600, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and was developed by state aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), has a maximum flight range of 4,500 km and can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds; it has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes.

Photo: The Largest amphibious aircraft has a maximum flight range of 4,500 km and can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds. It has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes.

The Guinness World Records world record for the Largest amphibious aircraft was set by the Russian Beriev A-40 ‘Albatross’ aircraft, which is capable of taking off and landing on both land and water, has a maximum takeoff weight of 86 tonnes (189,600 lb), a wingspan of 42.5 m (139 ft) and is 45.7 m (150 ft) long. 

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the Largest firefighting aircraft, set by the Evergreen International Aviation Company of the USA which has modified a Boeing 747-300 widebody aircraft into a fire fighting aircraft. It has a capacity of 20,500 US gallons (77,600 litres) more than 8 times that of the commonly used P-3A Orion aircraft and is the largest fire fighting aircraft in the world.

The AG600, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and was developed by state aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai. AVIC deputy general manager, Geng Rugang, said the plane was “the latest breakthrough in China’s aviation industry.”

The aircraft has a maximum flight range of 4,500 km and can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds. It has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes, Xinhua said. It is also capable of rescuing up to 50 people far offshore.

The aircraft represents nearly seven years of work by a group of 70 aircraft component manufacturers and research teams from more than 150 institutes in 20 Chinese provinces and municipalities.