Supporting the Chinese Ba Yi (August 1st) aerobatic team and also performing in the flying show. From 13th Div/37th Reg, Kaifeng. Since I last saw a Y-20 at the Zhuhai show in 2018, the national marks have been toned down.

Y-20's are still a rare sight but become frequent visitors to Europe it seems. Six were seen in Serbia in April 2022 while one participated in the AirPower'22 in Zeltweg. This airframe brought some 40 chinese soldiers to participe in a championship of mountain warfare experts called "Edelweiss Raid", taking place in Tirol annualy. It is seen here departing on Innbruck's RWY26 heading back empty to Urumqi in North-Western China via Tekirdag (Turkey) to refuel, taking the very same flight route it came in one and a half hours earlier.

The Y-20 is the biggest aircraft so far designed and produced by China. It first flew in 2013 and entered service with the PLAAF in 2016. Even though counting less than 40 frames at the time of upload, the Y-20 fleet already makes a difference in China's strategic capabilities. The airframe and avioincs are of modern design, the weak point being the Soviet developped Solowjow D-30KP-2 engines (also used on the IL-76), the orign of which dates back to the 1960's. The IL-76 served the chinese engieers as a model, resulting in the Y-20 having a similar look, dimensions & weights like the IL-76.