Actually, the "Z-8L" piloted by Lian Mingyang took off only about 15 minutes later than those "Attack-9B" helicopters of the Air Force.
Just like piloting an armed helicopter, Lian Mingyang is still at the forefront, personally carrying out the most risky assault missions.
On his "Z-8L" general-purpose transport helicopter, besides him and Jiang Shanggui, there are 2 machine gunners and a squad of 12 assault team members on board.
In fact, the "Z-8L" can carry a maximum of 16 fully armed infantry soldiers. In the front and back personnel cabins, separated by a middle partition, face-to-face seating arrangements allow for 4 infantry in each of the 4 rows. However, each row leaves one seat empty for ammunition and other supplies, so only 12 soldiers are carried.
In the special operations model, the "Z-8T," because the last row of seats is removed to install a 600-liter internal fuel tank, it can also only carry 12 soldiers.
This carrying capacity is actually very deliberate.
