Ye Linwei, team leader of the 80,000-metric-ton die-forging press crew at China National Erzhong Group Deyang Wanhang Die Forging, reviews operations at the production site.

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The first time Ye Linwei stood beneath the 80,000-metric-ton die-forging press, he was 26. Towering 42 meters above him — as high as a 15-story building and weighing 22,000 tons — was a legendary machine.

Ye, now 40, is team leader of the press crew at China National Erzhong Group Deyang Wanhang Die Forging. The press, developed by Erzhong Group, is one of the largest in the world and built to forge aircraft parts.

"I've dreamed of building aircraft since I was a child," Ye said. "My first encounter with the 80,000-ton press was as a freshman. It hadn't broken ground yet, but its legend was already whispered in every corner of the heavy machinery world."

In 2006, Ye was studying civil construction at Sichuan Polytechnic University when he learned his school was training specialists for an 80,000-ton press to support the development of homegrown aircraft. A budding pilot at heart, he switched to the forging program. "If I couldn't be the pilot," Ye recalls thinking, "I could at least help build the plane."

By 2012, the press was ready. So was Ye. Following a rigorous selection process, he was chosen as a candidate for the inaugural operation team.

The challenge was unlike anything in the textbooks. With no mature operating procedures to follow, Ye faced a maze of components: 10 kilometers of hydraulic piping, tens of thousands of electrical control modules and a mechanical frame that tolerated no mistakes.

"Mastering this unprecedented steel has no road map to follow; every step forward felt like navigating uncharted waters," Ye said.

To close the gap between theory and reality, Ye buried himself in studying the machine. During the day, he climbed the press to examine its structure against the blueprints. At night, he stayed at the console, recording data.

"At the toughest stage, we ran over a hundred trials on a single parameter. Constant tweaks, constant checks," Ye said. Undeterred by the setbacks, Ye's work finally paid off. He cracked the operating code a year early, earning the position as the press' inaugural chief.

Operating an 80,000-ton giant is less about brute force than microscopic control. Over years of repetition, Ye has developed a near-instinctive feel for operating the machine. "I taught myself to listen to the equipment," Ye said. By ear, Ye spots machine faults. He once used the press to crack an eggshell without rupturing the membrane inside.

That precision proved vital in national key projects, most notably in forging the C919's vertical stabilizer and its main landing gear. Working beside the press, Ye and his colleagues ran repeated trial forgings, adjusting parameters until the margin of error disappeared. The successful forging supported the aircraft's final assembly, maiden flight and commercial service.

Ye and his team took over 2,500 days to crack the core technology for central-wing titanium alloy edges, delivering more than 130 critical forgings, all now in active service.

"In aviation, nothing is trivial. Every forging is a layer of insurance for flight safety; there is zero tolerance for error," Ye reminds himself and his crew. Over the years, Ye's team has produced nearly 40,000 high-precision forgings. Among them are the world's largest gas turbine disc, ultralarge integrated titanium bladed disks and high-strength TC17 titanium alloy components.

"Serving national megaprojects as a frontline worker is my greatest pride," Ye said. For him, the work is less about awards and more about a quiet promise that ensures every part leaving the shop floor is strong enough to fly.