Yang Wei (aircraft designer)
Encyclopedia
Education
Yang was the youngest general designer China ever had, completing his undergraduate education by the age of 19, and graduate education by the age of 22 from the Northwestern Industrial University. Yang first joined the Chengdu Aircraft Design InstituteChengdu Aircraft Design Institute
Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute , or «CADI», is a Chinese design institute and jointer partners with Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for military aircraft.The CADI seems to be working on the J-XX 5th Generation Fighter Aircraft, a stealth fighter project seemingly designated J-13...
in the late 1980s, and by the age of 38, he was promoted to the highest rank within the institute — director of the institute.
Career
Since 1998, Yang has become the general designer of numerous aircraftAircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
, and he is also one of the founders of fully digitized fly-by-wire control systems in China, a feat that greatly helped him become general designer of aircraft. Under his leadership, it took less than four years to achieve a maiden flight
Maiden flight
The maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. This is similar to a ship's maiden voyage....
from scratch for FC-1, a record that remains unbroken in China today, and this was achieved while Yang was also the general designer of the Chengdu J-10
Chengdu J-10
The Chengdu J-10 is a multirole fighter aircraft designed and produced by the People's Republic of China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force...
double seated version. Although only being the general designer of the twin seater version of the Chengdu J-10
Chengdu J-10
The Chengdu J-10 is a multirole fighter aircraft designed and produced by the People's Republic of China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force...
, Yang was the chief engineer of the digital fly-by-wire control systems for both the single seater and the twin seater version of the Chengdu J-10
Chengdu J-10
The Chengdu J-10 is a multirole fighter aircraft designed and produced by the People's Republic of China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force...
. Due to the nature of his work, Yang's achievements were kept secret and it was not until January 2007 when Chengdu J-10
Chengdu J-10
The Chengdu J-10 is a multirole fighter aircraft designed and produced by the People's Republic of China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force...
was finally confirmed by the official Chinese governmental acknowledgement that his name and contributions begin to appear in a very limited fashion on official Chinese governmental websites, such as the military websites of the Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency
The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...
.