The first A320 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) in the Southwest China area has passed acceptance inspection of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The CAAC evaluated the performance of the A320 FFS at the Flight Training Center of the Training Department of Air China Southwest Branch. The full-flight simulator, with a value amounting to more than RMB150 million, was formally put into operation after the approval of the CAAC.

Air China Southwest Branch currently owns and operates one A320 FFS, one A320 Flight Training Device, and one B737-300 FFS.

The branch airline has established an advanced and all-weather flight training base with an investment of RMB270 million.

The addition of the A320 FSS advances the airline’s level of flight training for the west plateau air route into a new stage. The great advantage of a simulator is that it can be worked pretty much around the clock. China has a great need for pilots. One way of helping ease that need is to get a lot more simulators into action so that pilots can train up rapidly. Especially in the new co-operative cockpit drills.
Source: China Civil Aviation

China Eastern Airlines saw its share price sink 6.8% after the Civil Aviation Administration announced it was fining the company for an incident in which its pilots intentionally disrupted flights, inconveniencing hundreds of passengers.

‘This incident exposed existing weaknesses in our management and taught us a deep lesson,’ the airline said in a statement released after the aviation regulator announced it was fining the company RMB1.5 million ($214,300) for the disruptions.

The Shanghai-based airline earlier said that 21 flights on March 31 in southwestern China’s Yunnan province were intentionally disrupted by pilots who either turned back midway through their flights or landed them and then took off again without letting passengers disembark.

The pilots were reportedly disgruntled over contract and work conditions in a country that bans unauthorized labor organizing.

Aviation regulators announced the fine, and the suspension of some of China Eastern’s flights in Yunnan, after an investigation.

Having been involved in this sort of nonsense in another country the writer has a comment to make. Pilots wrongly are treated as if they, and they alone, manage the aircraft.

This should not be the case.

It is an essential that the management of the aircraft be a team effort — the second pilot is not just along for the ride — and this is now being reflected in the way the flight simulators are set up.

The pilot is God ethos has to change.

The next point is that there just are not enough pilots so they see themselves in a special bargaining position. The answer is more and more simulators and more and more pilots. Flying a modern plane is not a great skill and an unflappable manner is of greater value than a high intelligence.

The use of the term ‘captain’ should be abandoned. They are the pilot of the plane in the same way as a bus driver is the driver of a bus and elevating them to semi-God status always brings trouble. As Qantas in Australia found to its cost. And eventually to the deep distress of a large number of pilots. Who are no longer captains.
Source: Associated Press

Shenzhen Airlines, is installing a machine from Mechtronix with the snazzy and easy-to-remember name of B737-NG FFS X(TM). Not something that rolls easily off the tongue.

Mechtronix, claims it is the fastest growing and third leading manufacturer of flight training equipment in the world which is, not in truth, a major claim as there are much less than a dozen, probably closer to half that.

The equipment is currently being delivered with plans to install and qualify with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for training set to later this month the airline’s facility in Shenzhen.

The demand for pilots in China far out-strips the supply and airlines are forced, as it were, to grow their own.

Li Kun, President of Shenzhen Airlines is alleged to have said, ‘We selected the Mechtronix NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) at Shenzhen for its growing global success serving other organizations and regulators where it has demonstrated proven quality, reliability and economic affordability.’

There is no way he actually said that. It is a prime example of PR-speak which does not relate in any way to the way that human beings converse.

The great attraction of the NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM), which is made in Montreal, although it has a long, mystifying and pretty stupid name, costs about half a typical flight simulator offering the same level of training.

The press release says, ‘The NZFT(TM) FFS X(TM) provides the highest level of fidelity and can easily be upgraded to a ZFT(TM) FFS X(TM).’

For which relief, much thanks.

Shenzhen Airlines, an airline company specializing in air passenger, cargo and mail transport, was founded in November 1992 and started service on September 17 1993. Currently it maintains 50 passenger aircraft (Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s) and four Boeing 747 cargo aircraft.
Source: CNW Group

A pilot shortage is affecting China’s aviation industry, leaving hundreds of new Boeing and Airbus jetliners on order without pilots to fly them.

China will need an average of 2,500 pilots each year for the next two twenty years and it is nowhere near set up to meet the demand.

So foreign pilots are taking command of some Chinese airliners. Aviation Minister Yang Yuanyuan recently declared that the industry is growing ‘too fast.’ He’s cut back daily flights, slowed the launches of start-up airlines and warned that safety must prevail over growth.

China isn’t the only country with a pilot shortage. It is a worldwide problem.

William R. Voss, chief executive of the Flight Safety Foundation said, ‘It’s something that is sneaking up on the industry overall because there have always been pilots in the wings.’

Chinese aviation regulators say the nation will need an additional 9,000 or more pilots by 2010, as national airlines add jetliners at the rate of up to 150 a year.

Gao Hongfeng, the deputy head of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said, ‘But speaking truthfully, we only have the capacity to train about 7,000, leaving us short 2,000 pilots. The shortage of pilots has become an important factor constraining civil aviation’s development.’

Pierre Steffen, vice president of customer services for Airbus China said, ‘We’ve had two occasions with two Chinese airlines where sales deals were accompanied by requests for foreign pilots.

China’s Big Three airlines — Air China, China Eastern and China Southern — are working hard to deal with the pilot shortage.

Air China has reserved land to build a training center in Beijing that’s likely to be the biggest in the world, with 30 full flight simulators. That is one in our illustration.

Nearly 20 start-up airlines wait for approval to operate, and a green light may not come soon. One reason: The start-ups don’t have pilots. Pierre Steffen said, ‘Where do they get their pilots? They can only get them from existing local airlines.’
Source: Kansas City.com

The warning by IATA that the sands of time are running out on the pilot shortage problem is especially important for China in that it has the fastest expanding aviation market and, potentially, the biggest future problem from a severe shortage of pilots.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the apex body of all leading airlines of the world, has warned airlines of a severe pilot shortage unless a concerted effort is made to change training and qualification practices to produce out more pilots every year.

According to IATA’s new estimates the global airline industry will need 17,000 new pilots annually due to expected industry growth and retirements.

Increasing retirement age of pilots to 65 may help but it can’t be the only solution according IATA.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO, said, ‘It’s time to ring the warning bell. We must re-think pilot training and qualification to further improve safety and increase training capacity.’

He told the FAA International Safety Forum that industry is concerned because ‘There are no global standards for training concepts or regulation. Pilot training has not changed in 60 years — we are still ticking boxes with an emphasis on flight hours.’

IATA supports the competency-based approach of multi-crew pilot licensing (MPL) training programs. Unlike traditional pilot training, MPL focuses from the beginning on training for multi-pilot cockpit working conditions. It also makes better use of simulator technology.

Europe was among the first regions to adopt MPL and Australia and China are moving ahead with implementation. In China, IATA is working with the government to develop the syllabus and incorporate MPL into national regulation.

But even with this effort there will be shortages. Which means that in the ever-contentious relationships between flight crew and management the pilots will start to get the upper hand. Which, inevitably, means increases in salaries and thus in air fares.