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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

Chinese navy struggles to find enough pilots for 3 aircraft carriers

  • PLA needs at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to operate 130 ship-borne aircraft, expert says
  • Military magazine says JL-9G trainer cannot be used to simulate emergency landings on a flight deck

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A PLA Navy pilot in a J-15 takes to the skies after leaving the deck of the aircraft carrier Liaoning. Photo: Handout
Minnie Chan

China’s navy, the world’s second-most powerful – with two aircraft carriers commissioned and another launched in June – is struggling to meet increased demand for qualified ship-borne fighter jet pilots, analysts said.

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The People’s Liberation Army Navy has sped up carrier-based fighter jet pilot training programmes in the decade since the commissioning of its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, but its lack of a fighter trainer specifically designed for carrier-based operations has hindered progress, according to an article published in Ordnance Industry Science Technology, a Chinese military magazine.

With Fujian, China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, having started sea trials last week, the PLA needed at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to operate 130 ship-borne aircraft, Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said.

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Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations

Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations
The Fujian is equipped with advanced electromagnetic catapults, similar to those on the US supercarrier Gerald R Ford, while China’s first two carriers featured ski-jump designs, so the navy will have to master a new aircraft launch and recovery system.

“It’s full of challenges, as aircraft design and pilot training are among the world’s most difficult and complicated core technology – which no one will share with you,” Li said.

PLA Navy pilots use the Chinese-made JL-9G, a single-engine twin-seat aircraft first revealed in 2011, as a carrier-trainer variant, but it cannot be used to simulate emergency landings on a flight deck because of flaws such as being too light and too slow, Ordnance Industry Science Technology said in a report marking the 10th anniversary of the Liaoning’s commissioning on September 25, 2012. Those flaws have seen it confined to land-based simulated carrier training.

“In the past few decades, the US military was using the T-45 Goshawk carrier-qualified trainer to train its pilot cadets,” it said.

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