Flight Ops on Chinas Carrier
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Imran Khan
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Li Xiaoyan is an experienced navy, army and air force commander and has studied how to command an aircraft carrier.
The headquarters of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) already appointed career military officer Li Xiaoyan to take command of China's first aircraft carrier, the Varyag, according to a report of the Dongfang Daily newspaper, quoting an authoritative source close to China's military community. The aircraft carrier will be directly under the command of the PLA Navy HQ.
The carrier will make its maiden sea trial at a later date in August. It is expected that it will later see service in many areas, including the East, North and South China Sea, said the report.
The source said that the PLA Navy already selected Li for the coveted position earlier this year and the appointment is no longer a secret in Chinese military circles.
Li, currently holding a military rank of senior colonel, was assigned to Dalian, where the Varyag presently takes berth, in December 2010.
The aircraft carrier will be under the direct command of the PLA Navy HQ, which is in turn required to report all of the Varyag's movements to China's Central Military Commission.
Meanwhile, The PLA Daily had introduced Bai Yaoping, who was also widely seen as a top candidate for the commanding post, as vice president of the Dalian Naval School to cultivate the new generation of navy commanders. The report on July 4 was seen as an indication ruling him out as the first captain of the aircraft carrier.
Both Li, 50, and Bai, 49, were among the ten most outstanding pilots picked for training in the first and only "pilot warship captain class" at Guangzhou Warship Academy in 1987.
With one bowing out, nine of them completed three and half to four years of training in naval aviation command before being assigned to different command units to serve as deputy captains before becoming captains of their aviation wings.
Li was selected over others as the first commander of China's first aircraft carrier mainly because of his well-rounded tri-service military experiences in the army, air force and navy.
Born in 1961 in Changchun City of Jilin Province in northeastern China, Li first joined China's Air Force where he received aviation training at the Second Aviation Preparatory School in 1979.
He later attended Russia's Kuznetsov Naval Academy for advanced command studies in March 1996 after which he was appointed to other senior posts, including captain of a fleet of destroyers and chief of staff for a destroyer task force which was part of the Nanhai (South China) Fleet in 2007.
For his commanding post at the Varyag, his top brass will include three deputy commanding officers, according to media reports.
In 2002, Li made an in-depth study of the Minsk World, which is a military theme park based in a former Soviet aircraft carrier, the Minsk, in China's southern Shenzhen City. He made careful inspection of various vital commanding centers aboard the giant ship.
He told Hong Kong media at that time that China would build its own aircraft carriers. In addition to economic and financial factors, China should also consider other factors involving foreign relationships and technology as well as other factors like efficient utilization and maintenance of powerful naval ships.
In addition to taking part in many military exercises, he led a Chinese naval fleet in goodwill visits to seven nations in Asia, Africa, and Europe during 2007
Abingdonboy
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The heli on the first page is the Z-8
The front half looks identical to US UH-3 SeaKing
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