From the Start, I Had a Drone, and I Built a Homegrown Jumbo Jet

In his previous life, Chen Yanzhou was among the first generation of drone developers in China. He spent years making his way through commercial drone companies and major aircraft manufacturers, only to die with regrets in an accident involving a prototype aircraft. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in 2007, during graduation season, as an undergraduate in aircraft design who had yet to enter the workforce. He was also bound to an Industrial System that could predict the next few minutes. This time, he didn’t want to remain a passive cog in a vast system, waiting for things to happen. He earned his first fortune in the financial markets, then started with an industrial inspection drone, recruiting flight-control geniuses, structural specialists, veteran engineers, and an airport-industry owner in a desperate situation. Together, they broke through the barriers in the supply chain, test-flight facilities, airworthiness certification, and manufacturing. From a student team to an equipment factory, from general aviation aircraft to a major aircraft manufacturer, he would build a truly Chinese-made passenger plane, one step at a time.