General aviation in China

You've taught me a new word!  Thank you!!

pilot?

;-)

Not impossible to fly? Let me clarify, Not impossible to fly IF YOU ARE CHINESE and very well connected and even then not without a huge number of restrictions.

I'm a Helicopter pilot who lives and has worked in China as a Pilot for more than two decades already.  I flew in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong for 15 years. I was the first to fly the Macao - Shenzhen route both VFR and IFR and flew it for most of that time as well as Macao - HK.   This was a commercial airline service. Different from weekend warrior type flying.
I also worked out of Beijing as Business Development and Technical/Training Advisor for Beijing Capital Helicopters where I was the first foreign pilot to fly a helicopter around the great wall and was an advisor in the set up of Beijing's first Helicopter EMS service.
I also still have my own Aviation consulting company in Beijing. 美华超龙航空咨询（北京）有限公司, Meihua Super Dragon Aviation Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Hong Kong has an active GA community although it's like flying in a bubble as you are limited to the HK & Macao airspace.  As for GA flying in the mainland know this:  All airports are controlled.  The vast majority of those have no English speaking controllers. So unless you are fluent in Chinese you are not flying without a Chinese pilot on board to handle your radios.

Most flight schools are limited to local area flights only flying pattern work, no cross country flights.

Also as a foreigner you will only be allowed to fly in certain areas of the country. I myself was on projects in the western region of the country twice to advise on the set up of different contracts and both times was evicted from the area within the first 24 hours after arrival.

Next there is the licensing issue.  You can not fly on your foreign license here. If you are employed as a pilot you may be able to do so for a few months while working on your Chinese license however know that getting the local license is not easy.  The written exams are plentiful and difficult mainly due to the poor translations of the test from Chinese into English.  I myself speak a fair bit of Chinese and passed the Helicopter ATP on the first go but the translations on other level exams is not as good. I know a pilot who took the Helicopter commercial 7 times before passing and this one an he was a knowledgeable instructor!

My only advice to you is if you wish to fly GA is to move somewhere either in or close to HK so that you can fly there.  I hate to be negative but I would be very surprised if you will be able to fly private in the mainland.

You can DM me if you have any specific questions

Bob

Hi Bob.

I find the CN flying situation humorous being that Cirrus and Mooney are now Chinese corporations (I own a Cirrus).

I am a 100-150 hr/yr pilot, so definitely not a pro. I sent in my application to join the CN AOPA. We'll see where that goes. From what you describe, the only way I'll be able to fly in CN is with a local pilot. That's not the end of the world for me. I won't be there long enough to justify getting a CN license. Although I am neck-deep in my Chinese language lessons, my Chinese probably won't be sufficient for radio work (I incorrectly assumed ATC would be in English).

Right now, it looks like we're going to end up in either Hangzhou or Souzhou. Shenzhen is still on the list, but a little further down.

Thanks Bob.
Mike.