Harbin Z-5

Harbin Z-5
Role	Transport helicopter/Utility helicopter
Manufacturer	Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation
Designer	Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant
Status	Retired from active service
Primary user	China
Number built	575
Developed from	Mil Mi-4

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The Harbin Z-5 (Zhishengji - helicopter) is a Chinese copy of the Soviet Mil Mi-4 piston engined helicopter. It was produced in the city of Harbin, China. The USSR provided China with blueprints in 1958, a few years before the Sino-Soviet split. The first flight was in 1959, but serial production was delayed and didn't start until the mid-1960s. China has produced a number of unique variants, and the Z-5 was in use with the PLA, PLAAF and PLANAF in large numbers, although it might still be in reserve.^[1] China also exported a number of Z-5 to client states. About 545 were built.^[2] A few Z-5 helicopters were modified to carry machine-guns and rocket pods.^[3]

[edit] Z-6

Harbin Z-6 (Zhi-6) is an Chinese development of the Z-5. The major difference is that the piston engine is replaced by a turboshaft engine, which is located atop of the cabin. Z-6 hence is the first Chinese helicopter powered by a turboshaft engine. Development began in 1966 at Harbin Airplane Factory, but two years later, the major developmental work was handed to the newly formed Helicopter Design Research Institute, but Harbin Airplane Factory still handled the production. On December 15, 1969, the Z-6 prototype test flight was successfully completed by test pilot Wang Peimin (王培民). On August 7, 1972, a Z-6 crashed in Princess Ridge (Gongzhuling, 公主岭) in Jilin, killing all 6 people on board, including the pilot, Mr. Fu Guifa (傅贵法). It was discovered that the cause of the accident was due to the decelerator locking on the main axis of the engine, resulting in the jamming that stopped the engine, subsequently causing the crash. As a result, there were a total of 11 redesign changes to eliminate the problem, as well as those potential ones that had not appeared.

Fearing a massive Soviet attack after the Sino-Soviet border conflict, production and development were evacuated to two inland factories: Changzhou Airplane Factory and Changhe Airplane Factory in 1970. However, the political turmoil in China, namely, Cultural Revolution, took a great toll on the production and only 11 were built before the program was cancelled because the single engine design was deemed unsafe and unsurvivable in combat. In fact, the political turmoil had such a negative impact on the program that in was not until 1977 when Z-6 received state certification, long after the production began.

Specifications for Z-6:

Length: 20.962 meter
Height: 5.593 meter
Diameter of the rotor: 21 meter
Empty weight: 4.82 ton
Maximum takeoff weight: 7.6 ton
Speed: 192 km/hr
Range: 651 km
Capacity: 12 people or 1.2 ton (normal)
Power plant: 1 WZ-5 (Wozhou-5, 涡轴-5) turboshaft engine, 1618 kW.

One Z-5 was reengined with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-6 "Twin Pac" turboshaft in 1979, during the Chinese-Western rapprochement. Some sources refer to this as the Z-6, but the experiment went no further.^[4]