China’s active-control plane completes gust alleviation test

BEIJING — Many people are scared of bumpy flights, but stabilizing planes during turbulence has been a difficult problem to solve in the aviation industry.

China's independently-developed active-control airplane, with a wingspan of 3.5 meters, has recently completed its first gust response flight test, which verified the validity of the active control technology in reducing airplane turbulence by 20 percent, the manufacturer said Dec 4.

The test was conducted in North China's Hebei province by a research institute affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

The active control technology can develop augmentation systems to stabilize airplane configurations and to limit or tailor the design loads that the airplane structure must support.

Researchers said that severe turbulence could result in structural damage, posing a great threat to flight safety. An airplane with active control technology may have strong stability and a long life span.

Passenger airliners including Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 have already been equipped with active control technology.