First World Fly-in Expo brings brave pilots to Wuhan skies
WUHAN, China, Nov. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Looking into the skies of Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province, one will not only see white clouds, but also aerial displays by pilots from Latvia, the United States, Spain and other countries. A feast of air shows is now on display for aviation fans worldwide.
The World Fly-in Expo (WFE) took flight on Saturday at the South Wuhan General Airport, drawing over 1,000 participants from about 37 countries and regions. The event will feature 788 aircraft, eight grand shows, five major competitions and two record-making activities as well as music festivals, offering an once-in-a-lifetime international air show for 600,000 spectators.
The WFE is a major project of the 13th Five-Year plan of the Aero Sports Federation of China (ASFC). Organized by the World Air Sports Federation (WASF), the ASFC, Wuhan government and Hubei Sports Bureau, the event will be held every two years in Wuhan. The event features latest technologies in global aero sports and well displays China's prowess in this field, becoming a must-see for the industry.
The four-day event features aero flight performances, aviation sports competitions, record-making activities, public interaction experience, static exhibitions and forums.
This is my first visit to this place and I was impressed with Wuhan's modernity and vitality, and I wish the fascinating event a great success, said WASF president Frits Brink.
Nearly 200 aircrafts are on display at the 20,000-square-meter indoor exhibition area and the 60,000-square-meter outdoor pavilions, which are equivalent to about 10 percent of China's total number of navigation aircrafts, setting a record for static exhibition of domestic air shows. There are high-end business jets, transport aircrafts, famous planes, domestic sports aircrafts, helicopters, private aircrafts and so on, featuring mainstream aircrafts in the industry.
In order to increase the participation of ordinary people, the event specially introduces aviation popular science education flight simulators, professional simulators, desktop flight trainers and other projects for the public, especially young people to experience the simulation teaching and operation and feel the joy of flying.
Over 100 industry associations, clubs and business representatives also joined the event to participate in the aviation industry summit forum to be held later to discuss how to make better use of aviation resources.
In recent years, China has attached great importance to the navigation industry and issued a number of laws and regulations to actively plan its industrial development. In order to further attract and gather world-class talents and enterprises to build a world-class general aviation industry chain, Wuhan set up the General Aviation and Satellite Industrial Park in 2015 according to the requirements of "the best in the world, the most complete in function, the best in display and the most inclusive in products".
The industrial park is located in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (Hannan District) with a total area of 24.75 square kilometers. It has set up an integrated industrial park including small aircraft manufacturing, aircraft parts manufacturing, flight training, operation and maintenance, exhibition and trade, tourism and sightseeing, satellite application equipment research and development. The park is divided into the airport core functional area, navigation R&D and manufacturing area, satellite industrial area, bonded area, aviation business district, aviation sports and leisure area and navigable community.
At present, Hannan General Aviation Airport has built a 1600-meter airport runway, with supporting terminal buildings, event buildings, hangars, FBO and other ancillary buildings, of which the FBO has a total construction area of 40,000 square meters, the largest among China's domestic navigation airports .
Wuhan signed a contract Saturday with 19 projects which cover navigation manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, training, operation and service, and satellite technology, with total investment reaching 145 billion yuan. The signing of the above projects will greatly enrich Wuhan's aviation industry chain, making it one whole-industrial-chain aero industrial park covering production, flying, training and maintenance.
The Wuhan General Aviation and Satellite Industrial Park has begun to take shape and it will not only be the normal venue for the WFE, but also the new hub for domestic and global aviation industry and paradise for flying amateurs, according to one organizer, adding that Wuhan hopes to see more friends joining them to explore the aero industry.
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SOURCE Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone
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