bexrbetter

No Catch, nice place, THEY EVEN LET POMS IN !!!!!!!

Actually some of my good UK mates make Rolls Royce jet inconel fuel line parts in Chengdu.

Hi Mark welcomeNo flying there in Chengdu but pandas ok . In Guilin not long back plenty of migs about.

If you can go to Beijing military museum and check out the back for ww2 aircraft you might also find a U2 there .

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.99,104.25&spn=0.1,0.1&t=h&q=30.99,104.25

and there's powered trikebuggy type hang gliders flying over my city, Deyang 1 hour NNE, all the time especially on weekends when they carry advert banners.

There are 5 MIGS to be crawled all over in a public park in Chengdu actually! And a big Russian Helicopter, a real and sizeable space rocket with a couple of jet engines laying around to boot. it's fantastic you can crawl over and in all of them.

The Chengdu museum has a few odds and ends as well. I'll get some pictures up the next few days.

Mark.So whats your particular interest in aviation?

Thanks for the welcomes, my first ventures into aviation forums and you guys are so nice I'm wondering what the catch is!

Go slow, breathe it in first while you check out the changes - culture changes constantly everywhere and it can be a shock coming back to something after a while and finding it's not the same comfortable chair you were sitting in before.

I've nothing against Chinese engines, or other manufactured items, but you have answered your own question by saying that some small businesses do not produce accurate products.

The biggest problem you have in China and a few other coutries, is where graft is considered cultural rather than the view we take on it.

The worst thing that happens is the Purchasing Officer in the company is on say a $500 per month, when a faulty batch of whatever comes through the manufacturer slips the PO a month's salary to not to notice (that manufacturer was chosen by the PO in the first place because he copped a red envelope so was never going to kick up a fuss anyway) and it's that kind of crap that needs to be cleaned up in China if they are to push forward. Where Western controlled companies here do better is by having their own men in Goods Recieved and QA/QC, not because they are any better, in fact Chinese QA/QC are very dilligent, it's that they can't be bribed. When I first came here near 10 years ago and was visiting factories, I noticed how many PO's had cars where other managers were still riding bicycles, obvious is obvious.

FWIW my 2005 Mazda 6 was one of the first off the Chinese production line with the Japanese 2.3 and auto and the only trouble I've had in 210,000kms is with the Jap auto box.

Yes you could build a copy of any of the 912 series, but it would be just that ... a copy. If I was going to have any copy of an existing aero engine made in China, I would want a team of quality control inspectors to check every component, sub-assembly and assembly, then I'd want some expert people to bench test each engine before it was pushed out the factory door.

But anyway, what the problem really is, is to co-ordinate so many component manufacturers to come together to produce such small numbers each - very difficult and you would also have to rely on smaller not so accurate small businesses and that's when trouble would show it's hand. as you would only need one of them to be sub-standard to break the chain.

But that was 50 years ago. Anything that you buy now that uses electricity comes from China, computers, TVs, phones, electrical appliances, tools.

Better than Vincents? .

Well I was swimming at Southbank last month visiting my family for a few weeks so not always so far away (and it was nice to have a 4'n'20 pie, fish and chips and vegemite on toast!).

Thanks for the welcome.

Hi I'm Mark in living and working in Chengdu China, Ex-Brissy and Melbourne just getting into the scene and like the site :-)