From Aviation Week & Space technology...
"A familiar joke in the Chinese airline industry is that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has higher physical standards for pilots than the national space program has for astronauts. But now the CAAC has dropped some reasons for rejecting candidates for airliner cockpits.
The CAAC has relaxed its tough physical requirements for entry into pilot training, potentially improving the availability of personnel who are always in short supply in China. Eyesight requirements have been lowered so 84% of potential students should pass vision tests, up from 28%, the CAAC says. Inadequate eyesight was previously the most common reason for turning people away.
People who have had surgery to fix nearsightedness are now also acceptable, the agency says, adding it has been observing the relevant medical technology for 20-30 years—evidently not believing it needed to make a quick decision.
The relaxed standards will give airlines greater choices in hiring, the administration says, neglecting to mention that the usual problem is not a lack of variety among applicants but simply a lack of applicants, especially for captains’ positions. Although the country is reluctant to permit foreigners to take jobs that locals can perform in any industry, the airlines and other civil aircraft operators have long searched in the international market for pilots.
One curious standard has required that pilots be at least 165 cm (5 ft. 5 in.) tall and have legs no shorter than 74 cm. Those requirements are now abolished, the CAAC says. The average height of Chinese men is 172 cm. For women, the figure is 160 cm. Female pilots are notably uncommon in China.
The agency has long recognized that hiring and keeping pilots is one of the industry’s chief challenges. “The movement of pilots has become a focus of concern in the industry in recent years,” it noted in March in its annual review of Chinese civil aviation.
The new rules came into effect on Sept. 10. Considering the time needed for training and accumulating experience, they will not make much difference in the availability of captains until the 2030s, but the growing Chinese civil air fleet also will need a good supply of first officers.
The CAAC has also cut the time each pilot may spend flying, to 900 hr. a year from 1,000. In principle this could reduce pilot availability, but it is not clear how many Chinese airline pilots have been exceeding the new limit. That rule change was made at the end of August.
Chinese mainland air transportation operators had 14,396 captains and 16,900 first officers at the end of 2016. There were 880 foreign pilots, mostly flying domestic trunk and international routes. The number of pilot licenses grew 10.9% in 2016 to 50,504 at year-end, virtually matching the 10.8% annual average growth in the number of civil transport aircraft in 2011-16. However, only 31,296 or 62% of licensed pilots are flying for air transport operators. The remaining 38% are not working for airlines or not flying at all. Chinese general aviation traffic is minuscule compared with the country’s giant commercial air transportation industry.
In 2016 the typical age of air transportation pilots—not the average age—was 27. The typical age of captains was 33. “From this we can see that in the coming 10 years, there will be a golden age for the number of captains,” the CAAC says.
Seven pilot schools opened in 2016, taking the total to 20. Their total capacity is 3,450 students, the administration says. That is not nearly enough, which is why the airlines send recruits abroad to learn to fly. Indeed, the pilot requirement is likely to keep driving up China’s already substantial share of the demand for flight training in Australia, says an industry executive closely involved in the business there.
Australia has 7,500 flight students at any time and a potential capacity of 20,000, says Paul Ferguson, chief executive of a busy training airport near Melbourne and a director of the Australian Airports Association. About 15% of the current students in Australia are from China, he estimates, adding that their numbers can be expected to grow at 5-10% a year for at least 10-15 years.
Australia is faring particularly well from the Chinese training demand in part because of its good flying weather, English language, excellent safety record and strong regulator—the Civil Aviation Safety Authority—says Ferguson, speaking at Aviation Expo China, held in Beijing on Sept. 19-22.
Ferguson’s airport, Moorabbin, provides an example of the Chinese influence. Growing traffic from use by Chinese students has helped push the facility ahead of Sydney Airport as the country’s busiest, with monthly aircraft movements of 28,000-29,000. Eighteen training organizations at Moorabbin account for 75% of that activity; three of them are at least partly owned by Chinese interests.
About 15-20% of the students at Moorabbin are from China, typically trained under bulk contracts negotiated by Chinese airlines that want them ready to fly as first officers when they come home."