Looking out the window at the complicated Airbus A3 19 flap system, the reporter kept imagining what Liu's plane should look like. This Ningxia farmer who built airplanes has just become the protagonist in the activity of "China farmers fly first".

Liu's home is in Team 10, Beita Village, Honghua Township, Yinchuan City. After the land was expropriated in recent years, it became Lijing Street in xingqing district City, Yinchuan City, but Liu said that he was still a rural hukou. There are more than a dozen bungalows in his yard, and renting a house is the purpose.

The former is the main income of the family, but his own room is very simple. The aircraft manufacturing workshop is an adobe house expanded in the farmland behind the house. The roof is paved with straw, less than 20 meters long. In addition to a recently used "Bee 4" ultralight aircraft, there are two or three aircraft parts, and the traces of hand-made are very obvious. Only from the newspaper clippings and photos on the wall like blackboard newspapers can we believe that these things have ever flown. Liu's stepfather Cui Fengtai proudly explained every photo to the reporter.

sensibility

Like most people who are fascinated by aviation in China, Liu's aviation enlightenment also comes from aviation knowledge, which he came into contact with in the second day of 1988. 1990 Liu graduated from junior high school and went home to farm. At the same time, he began to plan to make airplanes.

At that time, in his impression, the plane was still a vague concept of "flying with wings". Not only does he lack knowledge, space and equipment, but even carpentry is the first time. A year later, it turned out to be an assignment for a junior high school student's manual class. This design is just a simple three-sided diagram. The wing with wingspan 1 1 m has two plates at home, and the 5-meter-long fuselage is spliced by cast iron water pipes and screws. Every hole should be drilled with a hand drill for dozens of minutes, and the three wheels are used by scooters. After a long time, he began to think about power. 600 yuan bought a gasoline engine of a motorized pesticide sprayer from the agricultural machinery company, and cut a propeller with a diameter of 0.6 meters with pine, but he could not bear the iron frame with only 5 horsepower 100 kilograms. Liu recalled: "If it can turn, it is not the wind." After that, he bought two old generators from the scrap yard, which was of little use.

Mr Cui Lao is 1963 the first graduate of Ningxia medical college. He doesn't know whether the plane can be built. He began to support his son, mainly because he believed in the value of doing something seriously. The income from his opening a clinic has always been an important source of funds for Liu. Mother's unconditional support is based on the simple philosophy of rural women: "This is much more meaningful than playing mahjong. You can tie him up at home and someone will do the work in the field."

The first turning point that Liu realized was the lack of knowledge. He ordered a bunch of professional books on aircraft design from Aviation Industry Press and National Defense Industry Press, and got a basic concept. The most important thing is to realize that a high-powered engine is needed first. According to the clue of a popular science center introduced by Middle School Science and Technology magazine, Liu got to know Zhu, a 702 retired engineer of Wuxi China Shipping Corporation, and got an engine with 15 horsepower, but it could not be started. 199 1 year, he used the 1000 yuan left over from his marriage to buy a 15 horsepower UAV engine from the airplane model group of the local antiaircraft artillery unit, but the original engine still can only bounce on dirt roads. 1993, Liu began to redesign and manufacture new aircraft, 1994 began to use aluminum alloy. By 1995, he had spent more than 10,000 yuan to build five planes, but he was always trapped by power.

1995, Liu saw a delta wing glider in aviation knowledge, and it took him a month to make one with aluminum tubes and nylon wires. On the slope of the Tanglaiqu river bank, which is six or seven meters high, Liu rushed down with a glider and tasted the taste of floating for the first time, although it was only two or three meters from the ground. In June, he changed the gliding location to Dongshan, 50 kilometers away, with a height of about 30 meters. In order to increase lift, nylon cloth is coated with a layer of paint to reduce air permeability. This time he flew four times, and the farthest one flew 100 meters, which was relatively stable, but he felt that the glider was not strong enough.

Liu's biggest turning point was 1995. This year, he appeared in the "Ningxia Expo" column of Ningxia TV Station in June 5438+065438+ 10, which attracted many people's enthusiasm, among which Zhu was the most meaningful. The 702 has a 30 HP Junna 430 twin-cylinder engine from the United States, which is specially designed for ultralight aircraft. It only took eight hours. Liu immediately pooled his money and rushed to Wuxi. He was moved by his insistence, and the other party reduced the price of 4000 yuan 1000 yuan.

With the engine, Liu began to design his sixth power plane. The fuselage is still made of aluminum alloy, and the wing skin is made of nylon cloth. The center of gravity, pitching stability and handling reliability are all considered in detail. Three months later, the plane was completed, with a wingspan of 9.65 meters, a captain of 5.9 meters, a dead weight of 120 kg, a takeoff weight of 200 kg, and a maximum speed of about 80 km/h.

experimentalism

At 6 am on April 7th, 1996, Liu's plane was pushed onto the expressway. At 7: 30, Liu Weiwei refueled, and the speed of the plane increased, slipping away 100 meters. When the joystick is pulled, the nose is lifted smoothly. The plane flew in a straight line over the ground 1 m, and then slowly fell back to the ground.

According to his experience, Liu realized that the permeability and lift of nylon fabric were insufficient. After painting and reinforcement, it can fly to three or five meters high and 200 ~ 300 meters away when tested again in three or four days. At this time, Liu's flying technology has just started, the space on the road is limited, and there are telephone poles on one side. In order to ensure safety, Liu rationally stopped the flight test.

In the next six months, Liu gradually realized the flying action by using his friend's remote control model plane. In February 65438, the West Lake in Fiona Fang, 20 kilometers away from Yinchuan, was frozen. On February 8, 65438, Liu began his test flight on the ice again. In the first three landings, the plane can fly in a straight line at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour and the height is about 50 meters. On the fourth landing, Liu tried to turn for the first time, but the engine suddenly stopped in the air and was forced to land on the lake. By February 29th, 65438, Liu finally turned four times and completed the closed flight. 1997 The third issue of Aviation Knowledge published the article "Farmers' Flying Dreams". According to research, Liu was the first farmer in China to manufacture ultralight aircraft.

1 997 65438+1October1or so, Liu and his parents who have never been on an airplane experienced the taste of heaven together. This flight once caught the attention of the radar of Yinchuan Air Traffic Control Center. Zhang, director of the flight control room, went to the scene to investigate and adopted a tolerant attitude towards this bold young farmer.

1998, Liu was in financial trouble. In addition, an accident that year interrupted a propeller worth 2500 yuan, so he had to stop flying and worked in the village security joint defense team for more than a year. But by this time, he was already famous. He was invited to perform a take-off and landing with his eighth plane at the National Model Aircraft Championship held in Yinchuan on 1998. On June 3, 2000, he performed in front of a closed-circuit television camera. In August of the same year, when he went to Fujian Southeast TV Station to record a program, Liu took a big plane for the first time in his life. Aviation enthusiasts finally got a close look at 12 Boeing 737 in aviation knowledge, but his feeling is simple: "A civil airliner is like a luxury car, and driving a small plane is like riding a motorcycle."

With intuitive flying experience, Liu spent three days in Hualian Flying Club of Beijing State Sports Commission in 20001and passed the test of powered parachute wing in Baoding Aviation School of State Sports Commission in 65438+February 2003. In the future, he plans to take another light aircraft driver's license.

In March 2003, Liu also bought an Australian powered delta wing aircraft from Dongguan through Beijing Flying Club. I trained in Yinchuan for more than ten days, and stayed in Tonghu Grassland Tourist Area for more than one month. The fee per person is 150 yuan. In July, he used this delta-wing plane to shoot a feature film of Baiyin Radio and Television Bureau in Gansu, and got 6,000 yuan in a week. On February 14, 2004, Liu flew a floating wing ultralight aircraft made by farmer Bai in Pingchuan District, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, and made his first flight successfully.

symbolism

In 2005, Liu's life changed dramatically again, and the activity of "China farmers flying first" became his top priority. In the past, an airplane could be built in three or four months. Now, we should "consider going up the stairs and pay attention to safety and technology." In fact, the official intervention made his aircraft manufacturing completely out of its original state.

When he is building a plane on the roof and in front of his home, he sleeps at the door and watches the plane at night. It's windy in the middle of the night, so the whole family has to get up and pull the plane for him. At ordinary times, his plane can only be disassembled and stored, flying every time, and then transported to the open space by tractor for assembly. Without the help of dozens of friends, he can only fly twice a year.

Now, all of Liu's flight activities are planned by Yinchuan Culture Company, and his 10 plane is no longer launched by indigenous means. The aircraft is expected to sell for more than 300,000 yuan, referring to American GT500 and S6 ultralight aircraft. The wingspan is 9 meters and the length is 6.2 meters. Adopt fully enclosed double cockpit design. The engine imported from Austria ROTAX 582 has a design speed of 65 ~160km, a flying height of less than 4,000m and the longest battery life of 5 hours. To ensure safety, the plane will be equipped with GPS satellite navigation equipment and imported ejection life-saving parachute, which can be opened when necessary, so that the whole plane can fall to the ground safely with the pilot.

However, the reporter didn't see the latest plane in Liu's home, because the company wanted to strengthen the sensational effect of the "China farmers' first flight" activity. On the morning of June 19, 2005, while training in Yinchuan, Liu was flying the "Bee 4" ultralight plane with a value of 10 million yuan purchased from a unit in Henan. It is undoubtedly attractive for Liu to have a better plane and fly a longer distance. He signed a contract with Guanqun Company for three years, but his expression of a future business prospect is also simple: "Let's take it one step at a time."

Liu is easy-going and has few hobbies. Motorcycle racing is his favorite outside the plane, and once ranked third in the rally of 100 kilometers in this area. The most interesting thing is that he doesn't have a driver's license yet, perhaps because cars are not as cheap as motorcycles and exciting as airplanes. Yinchuan is not economically developed, but it is located in the suburbs of the provincial capital. Liu's knowledge is not narrow. He can surf the Internet and learn about the civil aircraft incident of the American Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Unfortunately, he has no time to learn English. The more realistic goal is to build a better plane to participate in Zhuhai Air Show next year. Liu Ye flew once with his 12-year-old son. "He is interested in flying now. I can teach him if he likes. "