Maritime rescue aircraft begins flight test phase

A new variant of China's MA-60 passenger aircraft, designed to facilitate maritime search and rescue operations, made its first flight in Shaanxi province recently, according to Aviation Industry Corp of China, the nation's dominant aircraft manufacturer.

The State-owned industry conglomerate said that a prototype of the MA-60 search-and-rescue variant took off from the Yanliang Airport in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Thursday afternoon and stayed about 80 minutes in the air before landing on the same site. This marks the beginning of the variant's flight test phase, it noted.

Project managers from AVIC said that for a long time, China's maritime search and rescue capabilities have been constrained by challenges such as slow response time and limited search coverage during long-distance missions in complex environments.