I recently saw news that due to a left-engine reverse thrust failure, the world's first verification flight of the domestically produced large aircraft C919 failed, and the aircraft that was supposed to fly to Hefei was forced to land at Hongqiao Airport. This is an unexpected blow to everyone who cares about domestically produced large aircraft. China Eastern Airlines had previously announced that it would start commercial operations in the spring, at the end of February and early March, but now it has changed its words and said that it will only conduct testing by then.
The reverse thrust of the engine can reduce the taxiing speed of the aircraft during landing with maximum efficiency in a short time to ensure a safe landing. If all engine reverse thrust fails during landing, the probability of the aircraft landing safely is zero. The two engines installed on the C919 aircraft are the LEAP-1C engines newly developed by CFM Company. They are the weakest among the three models in the LEAP series. CFM is a 50:50 joint venture between French Snecma (now part of the Safran Group) and the American General Electric Company. In other words, the core components of the C919 are in Western hands. When the problem that arises this time can be solved depends entirely on CFM.
Core components such as engine reverse thrust are only one aspect of the C919's technological constraints. For many non-core components, the C919 also needs to rely on Western suppliers. During the test flight of the C919 aircraft, because the landing gear made of domestic steel was not strong enough, it was forced to replace it with American "300M steel." In addition, the engine, flight control system, and hydraulic system of the entire aircraft must be imported from the United States. If you look at these problems from the perspective of neck jamming, then the C919 has too many Achilles' heel.
Some people think that China can rely on Russia to solve these technical problems, because Russia is also a major aviation power in the world. Regardless of the status of Russian-made aircraft in the world market, even if China is willing to cooperate with Russia, Russia may not be willing to cooperate with China. Putin banned the sharing of aviation technology with China, which resulted in the suspension of the China-Russia CR929 domestically produced large aircraft project, making Russia feel even more unreliable.
When many people see something that cannot be separated from the West, they feel that they will be stuck, and they must develop and develop independently. Independent research and development and self-reliance are both good, but countries, like people, have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is impossible to cover everything. One of the main purposes of international exchanges is to learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's needs. As powerful as the United States is, it cannot play alone behind closed doors.
The stuck-neck mentality promotes confrontation rather than cooperation, and regards buyers and suppliers as opponents rather than partners. If I need to buy from abroad, I wish I could make it all domestically and not let foreigners earn Chinese money; when exporting to foreign countries, I feel that the United States has exchanged real wealth for pieces of paper. I think that the more I export, the more I will suffer, and I completely ignore it. The U.S. dollar can buy hundreds of millions of tons of oil, hundreds of billions of chips, hundreds of millions of tons of grain and other physical goods. If this kind of thinking is correct, then China should neither export nor import. The final result is that China will become a self-sufficient closed society in the new era. This logic is so absurd!
