Three Italy-made super-medium-lift helicopters were commissioned into the Donghai No.1 Rescue Flying Service under the Ministry of Transport in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The three AW189 twin-engine helicopters were manufactured by the multinational company Leonardo from Italy. Their inclusion in the Chinese rescue service extends the maritime search radius in China's eastern sea waters from 110 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles, marking a significant improvement in the maritime rescue capacity in the area. The three helicopters, with a maximum takeoff weight of 8.6 tons, can carry 19 passengers plus two pilots. They are the first batch of AW189 helicopters put into China's rescue flying service.
They have proved their performance in a maritime search-and-rescue exercise put up off Shanghai on Wednesday.
In the drill, the newly commissioned AW189 and rescue vessels were dispatched by the Donghai Rescue Bureau to save three crew members of a chemical tanker carrying phenol, who fell into the water in an explosion.
The AW189 quickly spotted the three, and had them delivered from the water.
"Now (with the AW189), we can immediately take off to perform the rescue within a radius of 180 nautical miles, without having to wait for 7 hours. With this 7 hours, a lot of lives could be saved," said Wei Shuo, deputy director of the safety supervision and management office of the Donghai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.
Three AW189 rescue helicopters put into rescue flying service
Three AW189 rescue helicopters put into rescue flying service
Three AW189 rescue helicopters put into rescue flying service
The first China Chongqing Science and Technology Film Week is taking place in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, with forums and lectures focusing on the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence in the film industry.
The six-day event kicked off on Wednesday in Chongqing's Yongchuan District, gathering experts, academics and leaders in the film and TV industry from home and abroad.
On Thursday, four themed salons were held on hot topics such as sci-tech innovations empowering the film and TV industry, virtual production and the upgrading of the film industry, and the integrated development of generative artificial intelligence, film and TV industry and metaverse.
"Director Guo Fan has said that when making The Wandering Earth 3 and later sequels, he would apply AI into the production of more scenes, including using it to present some movements and spatial relations. So, we all said during the Shanghai International Film Festival that AI is not the future. It is already present," said Yin Hong, vice president of the China Film Association.
In the following panel discussions, the guests shared their views on today and tomorrow's film industry and the development of science and technologies from different perspectives.
"We creators, especially visual creators, will embrace this technology in the years to come. It could be a very good thing," said Huo Tingxiao, president of the China Film Art Direction Academy.
On Thursday evening, a virtual girl group staged a concert on a huge screen at the venue, displaying the charm of cutting-edge technologies to the audience.
The film week also held several lectures on Friday, where film directors Li Lichi, Liu Xiaoshi and many other experts shared their insights on film production and science and technology.
"High-tech tools are surely useful in today's film production, very useful. They will bring disruptive changes to the work of our technical teams. But we have to bear in mind that they are just tools, of which we should be the masters, not slaves," Liu said.
In addition, more than 10 film and sci-tech companies presented their latest filmmaking technologies during the event.
Chongqing hosts first sci-tech film week
