Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-12-13
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| The docking area at Nanjing Lukou International Airport. (Photo/Xinhua) |
From the
first day of the new year, pilots flying domestically to Beijing from China's
top 10 municipal airports must be capable of performing a second-category blind
landing. The requirement comes as the smog thickens around the capital,
according to a decree issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China
(CAAC).
Spring
Airlines, China's leading budget carrier, reported on Dec. 10 that 80% of its
pilots are now proficient in such a landing, or landing via instrumental
assistance at a time when visibility is poor.
Half of the
pilots of China Eastern Airlines are capable of second-category blind landing,
while the great majority of pilots for Juneyao Airlines have completed
training. Most pilots flying large long-haul aircraft, such as A330 and B767,
were originally required to possess the skills for a blind landing, though
their is no national requirement to obtain a domestic flying license.
Pilots
without the requisite skills are currently being asked to land at a standby
airport during bad weather, which filters out a great amount of domestic
carriers when compared to international flights.
Growing
numbers of local pilots come with such capabilities, thanks to the provision of
cram courses by domestic airlines. The punctuality of domestic flights has
increased markedly, mainly by reducing the influence of smoggy weather.
With the
exception of Shanghai Pudong Airport, Beijing Capital Airport and Guangzhou
Baiyun Airport, most domestic airports are not equipped with blind-landing
assistance facilities, which are quite expensive.
The CAAC,
however, has planned to require eight airports with an annual passenger traffic
exceeding 20 million passenger/trips and 18 airports with passenger traffic of
5-20 million to install second-category or third category-blind landing
facilities.
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