4 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Chinese Helicopter Lands on HMS Cornwall MOD 45150752: POA(Phot) Owen King· OGL v1.0
- 2. Harbin Z-19 Black Whirlwind: Alert5· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. PLAAF Harbin Z-9WA: Allen Zhao· GFDL 1.2
- 4. PLA Harbin Z-9W 2012 Hong Kong: Tksteven· CC BY 3.0
what is it?
The Harbin Z-9 (NATO reporting name "Haitun", Chinese: 海豚; lit. 'Dolphin') is a Chinese military utility helicopter with armed variants, manufactured by Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. It is a license-built variant of the French Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin.
How to recognise it: 2 turboshaft engines · 11.9 m main rotor
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 45 years ago, in 1981.
- Top speed is 2.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Rotor of 11.9 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1981
- introduced
- 1998
- status
- still flying
- number built
- 200
- role
- medium multi-purpose utility helicopter
- origin
- 🇨🇳 China
- makers
- Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation
- engines
- 2× Zhuzhou Aeroengine Factory WZ-8A
- crew
- 1
- passengers
- 10
- length
- 12.1 m
- rotor diameter
- 11.9 m
- height
- 4 m
- max take-off weight
- 4,100 kg
- top speed
- 305 km/h
- cruise speed
- 260 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 4,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q645629, Wikipedia: Harbin Z-9 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.