ChinaDaily
BEIJING - The wind is blowing gently, perfect weather for flying. The sun
is gleaming off the surface of a long white runway, which disappears into the
clear blue horizon. It is a fine day in early May, ideal for flying small
planes around this small airfield in Yanqing county, about 70 kilometers
northwest of the center of Beijing.
Less than three years ago, business at the
Badaling Airfield was robust. The busiest days saw small aircraft taking off
and landing from dawn to dusk, according to Pan Jichun, a senior engineer with
Jinggong (Beijing)
General Aviation Company Limited, which developed the airfield in the late
1990s and has operated it until now.
Today, the runway is idle. The
12,000-square-meter tarmac lot at its southern end - enough for 70 to 80 small
planes - is empty as well.
This has to do with a large tower that is
being built on the east side of the runway by a research institute affiliated
with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which has
also installed 100 large mirrors for solar energy experiments. The mirrors
reflect the sun's rays, filling the sky with blinding beams of light.
"The dazzling beams are a great danger
to airplanes flying over our airfield," Pan says.
The Badaling Airfield is the only
privately-funded facility in Beijing
dedicated to general aviation (GA). It is now unsuitable for use.
China's
aviation sector is strictly controlled. Last year in October, the country's
central air traffic authority issued a document concerning the use of the
country's low-altitude airspace (LAA).
The document was issued by the State Air
Traffic Control Commission (SATCC), China's highest military-based
authority on air traffic affairs. It stipulated that airspace less than 1,000
meters above ground would be broken into three categories: control areas,
surveillance areas, and free-flight areas.
Free-flight areas may be used by anyone as
long as their flight plans are reported to the relevant air traffic authority
in advance.
The move was welcomed by China's small
but fast-growing tribe of flying enthusiasts and private owners of small
airplanes.
There is reason for the country's private
airplane owners to be please. In the past, each and every flight had to be
approved by the authorities well in advance. Approval procedures were complicated,
waiting times were long and approval didn't always come.
This led to an increase in the number of
illegal flights, a few instances of which were reported in the media. Those who
didn't want to take the risk of being caught flying illegally had to keep their
planes locked up.
However, according to the SATCC document,
GA flyers no longer need to get prior approval to fly in the third LAA
category, and the required flight plan reporting can be done on short notice.
However, the actual areas covered by the three LAA categories have still not
been specified, and SATCC officers say that the specification will not be
finished any time soon.
The cities of Changchun,
Guangzhou and Xi'an are the only ones whose airspace has
been divided and specified by the SATCC. A visual flight map showing the three
LAA areas above Xi'an
is nearly complete, according to the SATCC.
SATCC Deputy Director-General Liu Gang said
that work on the other two cities, as well as flight maps for five other
unspecified regions, will be completed this year. Flight maps with LAA
divisions for every city in the country should be ready by 2015, according to
Liu.
The initial fanfare triggered by the
release of the SATCC document has died out. Some GA enthusiasts now say the
1,000 meters of airspace specified in the document will not be high enough.
"Flying too low will be impossible
because of strong airflow. I normally fly between 1,800 and 2,000 meters above
ground," Pan says.
Liu, however, says that the changes will
simply take time. He dislikes the use of "opening up," saying that
the country's airspace has never actually been closed to general aviation.
"'Loosening' might be a more appropriate wording," he says.
"You want freedom to fly. However,
others have the right to live safely," he says. Liu adds that GA
enthusiasts should have more patience and should not derail the changes with
illegal flights that could disrupt normal air traffic.
Liu says the objectives of the changes are
to improve the use of LAA resources and create an orderly and safe aviation
control mechanism.
The government is eager to foster the
growth of GA-oriented companies, which are occasionally asked to help the
government with emergency rescue operations or to meet transportation needs in
areas where public transportation is lacking, according to Liu.
He says that a government-sponsored GA
pilot project involving helicopters is being promoted in Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, north China.
Zhu Shicai, an SATCC office secretary, says
an official website for reporting flight plans will be launched some time this
year. "Pilots who wish to apply and report their flight plans online will
find it to be very convenient and efficient," he says.
The term "general aviation"
refers to flights that are undertaken for the purposes of dispensing pesticides
and fertilizers, taking aerial pictures or helping with emergency rescue operations.
Sightseeing flights and private travel are also included in the definition.
Most GA aircraft are small airplanes or
helicopters. Zhang Peng, an SATCC section chief and a veteran military pilot,
says the 1,000-meter airspace specified in the SATCC document should be
adequate for flying small planes.
The easing of LAA control is the first step
towards creating a thriving GA industry. However, there is a long list of other
issues that must be taken into consideration: airfields, fuel, flight monitoring
services, and pilot training must also be readily available.
Investors, manufacturers and sales agents
predicted that the GA industry would take just two or three years to truly take
flight. However, China's
GA market still has a long way to go. China
had only 997 GA aircraft by the end of 2009, while the United States
had around 200,000.
Badaling Airfield is a prime example of
where improvements need to take place in China's GA industry. The field is
currently unfit to be used, as the construction of a large tower near the
runway's east side is preventing planes from using it.
Although the construction of the tower is a
violation of aviation regulations, the airfield's protests to the local
government failed to stop the construction from taking place. Due to a formal
land lease contract ratified more than a decade ago, the local government is
not in the position to force the flying club to relocate.
Badaling Airfield could have filed a
lawsuit against the developers if it was legally considered to be a proper
"airfield." Although it has all the necessary equipment, the field is
considered by the SATCC to be a "temporary strip for airplanes to take off
and land."
China
currently has 329 registered GA airstrips just like Badaling, Pan says. The
number of actual GA airfields is just 69.
However, Pan believes the Badaling Airfield
is one of the best spots in the country to practice general aviation. He says
that he often gets calls enquiring about memberships for the airfields, but he
always has to give callers disappointing answers.
The winds of change are blowing, but their
impact is yet to be felt. Pan says he's still optimistic about the future, but
Badaling Airfield may have much longer to wait.
