Published : 2025-10-19
On October 19, 1996, the hot-air airship "China No. 1" (中華1號), manufactured by China's first private aircraft manufacturer, successfully completed its maiden flight in Beijing.
The "China No. 1" was manufactured by Beijing Keyuan Light Aircraft Co. (北京科源輕型飛機有限公司). That year, with the assistance of nearly ten aviation experts from aerospace universities in Beijing and Nanjing, they produced the “Zhonghua No. 1” in just over two months. The hot-air airship represented a novel aircraft type at the time, combining characteristics of both hot-air balloons and inflatable airships.
The "China No. 1" was internationally groundbreaking among thermal airships of its time, being the first to adopt the streamlined and aesthetically innovative fuselage design of the AD200 aircraft as its gondola, as well as the first to employ a fiberglass honeycomb sandwich structure in its gondola construction. Simultaneously, it incorporated unique air-blowing and inflation systems.
The "China No. 1" had a length of 33.8 metres, a height of 14.8 m, an envelope diameter of 12.6 m, a volume of 2,600 cubic metres, a maximum weight of 650 kg, a maximum level flight speed greater than 25 km/h, an ascent speed greater than 3 m/s, a minimum turning radius of less than 50 m, and a payload of 220 kg. It is reported that at the time, as soon as the "China No. 1" passed its test flight, it was purchased by an enterprise in Zhuhai, because this type of hot-air airship had significant advantages in areas such as air sports, competitions, travel, advertising, and performances.
After the successful maiden flight of the "China No. 1", Liu Liancheng (劉連成), the then director of the First Aviation Department of the Air Traffic Management Centre of the State Sports Commission and chairman of the National Ballooning Commission, stated: "China's development in air sports is relatively backward, it is very difficult to rely on state investment. Air sports should engage with society, the company Keyuan has paved the way in this respect, and may have vast prospects in the future."
