Article Posted on : - Oct 23, 2010

An unrelated photo of a Chinese helicopter

BEIJING (PTI): China will conduct a test of its home made helicopter next month.

The first helicopter manufactured in its plant in Tianjin would begin test flights in early November, officials at Avicopter Corporation Limited (ACL) said Friday.

The assembly of the aircraft, a two-tonne AC311 light helicopter, was completed last week and it is to be used for training, fire fighting, first-aid and tourism, according to ACL.

The company officials told Xinhua that the plant would be able to produce more than 300 aircraft annually by 2017.

ACL was a joint venture set up by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and the municipal government of Tianjin in May 2009.