bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Charlotte So

Before the Cultural Revolution swept across China in 1966, many young people on the mainland built and flew their own aircraft.
The practice was encouraged by the government, keen to cultivate a large pool of potential pilots, replicating a policy adopted by the former Soviet Union as well as Germany during the second world war.
'There were government-backed aero clubs in every major city on the mainland some 40 years ago,' said Jemy Hu Jinming,  general manager of Zhuhai Yanzhou Aircraft Corporation.  The light aircraft manufacturer is expanding its production in Zhuhai  now that Beijing has appointed the city as the nation's manufacturing hub for light aircraft.
Hu, 63, who was a young boy during the golden days when flying was encouraged, now has a vision of reigniting the enthusiasm for flying among the young, and growing a non-commercial pilot pool. 
'Boys and girls who showed potential were picked to join the clubs where they could learn to build and fly their own planes,' he said. 
But the practice was abandoned when the relationship between Beijing and the Soviet Union soured in the 1960s. Beijing decided to train university graduates to be pilots instead of cultivating future aviators from the schoolchildren who had flocked to the aero clubs.
The government also began to enforce more stringent control over the airworthiness of aircraft.
Many countries such as the United States and South Africa allow hobbyists to assemble their own  planes as long as they meet licensing conditions for experimental aircraft. In the US, the non-profit Experimental Aircraft Association promotes the exchange of ideas on aircraft building and hosts well-attended annual carnivals at which members show and fly aircraft they have built.  
But Beijing has not adopted an experimental aircraft licence and that has curbed the development  of light aircraft  for agricultural and recreational use.  
As a result, the mainland, which ranks second after the United States as the world's second-largest aviation market with 200 million air passengers a year, has 1,000 non-commercial pilots, compared with 600,000 in the US. 
'In the US, even a primary school student could fly in an F-16 fighter accompanied by a genuine pilot. Why shouldn't mainland children get the chance to fly?' Hu said. 
When he was 18, Hu built a one-seater glider out of wood that was towed into the air by a plane. Hu and his fellow schoolmates would compete with each other to see who could stay in the air the longest. 
Hu, the enthusiastic amateur, went on after high school to study aircraft engineering in Harbin. He longed to design his own plane. His enthusiasm was encouraged by his uncle, who had worked for a US-based oil company. The uncle gave him a 200-page book on aircraft design, which Hu translated into Chinese, a huge  task for a someone who had always failed his English exams.
But there were problems at university. 'They said my uncle was a spy, since he used to work in the US,' he said. Hu stopped working on a new aircraft design, fearing it would bring trouble as political turmoil swept across the country. 
After the Cultural Revolution, Hu became a lecturer in the air force for four years before he joined Nanjing Science and Technology Commission. He moved to Nanjing Television Broadcast in 1983 as deputy chief executive and became chief executive of Zhuhai Broadcasting and Television in 1995. 
In Zhuhai, Hu resurrected his dreams of flying by chairing the Zhuhai Aero Club. But with the increase in air traffic at airports in Zhuhai and Macau, the aero club's activities have been curtailed. 
Ten years ago, Hu met Yu Yanen, former chairman of China Southern Airlines,  who invited him to head Zhuhai Yanzhou Aircraft. The company, funded by investors on the mainland and the US, is developing its  aircraft business in two phases. 
First, it set up  a unit for research and development of its own aircraft at the Jiuzhou Heliport  in Zhuhai. Then it applied for a light-sport aircraft (LSA) licence from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. 
Meanwhile, Yanzhou Aircraft will seek partnerships with foreign manufacturers who have already obtained production certificates and airworthiness licences. A mass production base for two-seater aircraft will then be set up at the Zhuhai Aviation Industry Park  with a  small runway to be built later. 
The company offers a wide range of services, including assembly of light aircraft, aircraft technology research and design, and pilot training services at Jiuzhou Heliport. It is to set up the Zhuhai Apollo Aero Club  to provide aircraft and training for veterans or potential pilots. 
Yanzhou Aircraft has also built three simulators that primary and secondary school children may use free of charge. 
Hu said the company would buy four or five CTLS aircraft, an Euro80,000 (HK$820,00) German light-sport aircraft, for training and rental purposes. 
The manufacturing division of the company was hampered by the economic downturn last year. It lost orders for four Seawind 300Cs, an amphibious aircraft,  from a Japanese client, Hu said. 
He said the manufacturing costs in Zhuhai would be much lower than in the US and the company would have been able to sell the Seawind aircraft for 2.6 million yuan (US$380,395) each compared with the US price of US$600,000.  
After finishing an order for a CH701 - a two-seater ultra-light aircraft - the company will deploy most of its technicians to the Zhuhai Apollo Aero Club, Hu said. 
The five light planes that have been assembled by Yanzhou Aircraft since 2006 were all for overseas markets, he said, adding that the mainland did not grant licences for two-seater aircraft until May 2009 when it adopted the LSA licence from the United States. 
But the mainland has still not certified an experimental licence which has been long-established in the US.  
'Mainland regulators need to loosen the stringent restrictions on light aircraft otherwise it will curb the development of general aviation in the nation,' he said.



Aviation enthusiast turns childhood dream into business venture