通用航空的中國制造在何方?

文/韋恩·曼斯菲爾德 （Wayne Mansfield）譯/趙藝

在過去的四年里，我來中國大概有20次，并在鄭州和武漢的航空展上進行了飛行表演。我認識了許多航空愛好者，并與他們成了好朋友。

Over the past 4 years, I’ve been to China around 20 times,and have now fl own in several air shows, in both Zhengzhou and Wuhan. I’ve met so many wonderful people interested in aviation and become good friends with many of them.

2015年，韋恩在哈爾濱表演空中海報

什么是通用航空？

在中國，人們對飛行的熱情很高。雖然很多人十分熟悉平時乘坐的飛機，卻從未近距離接觸過任何一架小型飛機。美國人熟知的通用航空對中國人來說是一個相對較新的概念。通用航空包括除公共航空運輸（大型客機）之外的所有民用航空活動。最近有一群中國的航空朋友來到美國。他們是一群有才華、熱誠且非常幸運的年輕人，他們被一家中國的航空公司選為飛行員，并被派到美國來學習飛行，目標是成為完全成熟的機長，有能力駕駛一架負載數百人的客機。我來自一個有90年飛行經驗的飛行員世家，這對我來說像是把順序前后顛倒了。我想說:“嘿, 等一下,不是應該先學習飛行，獲得商業飛行員的資格，然后再去航空公司找工作嗎 ?”不，在中國不是這樣。你展現出良好的資質，在學術上取得成績，然后被雇用并被派去學習飛行。這有培訓失敗的風險，政府和航空公司雖然能根據你表現出的潛力和優秀的考試成績來判斷你能否成功，不過你是否真的適合飛行，還有待觀察。一直讓我困惑的是，中國似乎還沒有一個通用航空文化系統能夠普及人們對飛行的認知。在美國和歐洲，通用航空業培養了數代飛行員，并發展為強大的航空產業，從而進一步充實了更為復雜和用途廣泛的航空運輸系統。

What Is General Aviation?

Enthusiasm for flying runs high in China, where many people have never been near, nor have they seen, a small airplane.General aviation, as known in America is a relatively new concept.“GA” as we call it, includes all civilian fl ying except big airliners.This week I greeted a group of my aviation friends arriving into the USA from China.They’re a select group of talented, dedicated – and very fortunate -young people to be chosen and hired as airline pilots.Their new employer, a Chinese airline has sent them to the USA to learn to fl y with the goal of becoming fully fl edged Airline Captains; that is to say command a passenger jet full of hundreds of people.Because I come from a family of aviators stretching back 90 years to my grandfather this seems like putting the cart in front of the horse.I want to say…Hey wait a minute.Don’t you fi rst learn to fl y, get a commercial pilot’s rating, and then get a job? Nope.Not in China.You show good qualif i cations, make the grade academically, and then get hired and sent off to learn to fl y afterwards.You can of course fail the training, but the government and the airline feel pretty sure you’ll make it based on your demonstrated potential and academic test scores.It remains to be seen if you are actually suited to fly airplanes.What continues to puzzle me is that it would seem that China has not yet de-veloped a widespread General Aviation culture and system capable of teaching its own people to fl y.In America and Europe it has been General Aviation that trained generations of pilots and developed a renowned aviation industry, leading to the further development of a complex and functional air transportation system.

韋恩·曼斯菲爾德，波士頓大學理學學士，Clear Sky有限公司董事、總經理，Aviad公司總裁/首席執行官， FAA（美國聯邦航空管理局）“飛行員大師獎”獲得者，FAA航空安全“年度好友獎”獲得者

我的這群中國的航空朋友來自北京，年輕的他們充滿活力、希望和熱情。如今亞洲的航空公司支付給符合資質的西方飛行員高達30萬美元的年薪。雖然我的朋友們作為本國培養的飛行員，可能無法獲得同樣的薪酬，但毫無疑問他們的薪水仍然很高，而且能在同齡人中享有很高的自豪感和聲望。

My young friends arrived from Beijing full of energy, hope,and enthusiasm; as well they should be, given that Asian airlines are now paying qualif i ed western airline pilots up to$300,000 USD per year.No doubt that they, as domestically sourced pilots, will be remunerated on a lower pay scale, but will still be very well paid and enjoy a high level of familial pride and prestige amongst their peers.

中國如何填補飛行員和機組人員缺口？

每天都有新聞報道亞洲的航空公司新購了飛機。這幾天的新聞宣稱，廈門航空將以超過30億美元的價格購買30架新波音飛機。但這只說了事情的一半，駕駛這些新飛機的飛行員和機組人員的短缺是迫在眉睫的危機。事實上，航空公司和制造商聲稱預計約有80萬名飛行員的短缺，這還不包括維修人員、空乘人員和機場運營支持人員。在未來的十至二十年里，預計有兩三百萬航空人才的短缺。與西方國家不同的是，中國沒有普及的通用航空文化和歷史來培養飛行員。在美國，機組人員短缺的情況也是大問題，美國的航空公司正在為此努力；而在歐洲，廉價航空公司的領頭羊瑞安航空（Ryanair) 最近正在為惡劣的客戶關系而頭疼，原因就是由于機組人員短缺迫使他們取消了一個半月內的2000個航班，使得大量乘客滯留。

How to Fill the Pilot and Crew Shortages in China?

Every day, news articles announce new purchases of aircraft by Asian airlines.Today’s news boasted of a sale by Boeing to Xiamen Airlines of 30 new planes at a cost in excess of $3 billion USD. What’s left out seems to be the other half of this story - the looming crisis of pilot and crew shortages to operate these planes.In fact, the airlines and manufacturers are claiming a projected shortfall of around 800,000 pilots – plus maintenance staff, fl ight attendants, and airport operations support. In round numbers, let’s say 2 to 3 million in the next decade or two.Unlike the West, China has no underlying aviation culture, nor a history of General Aviation to feed the fl ow of new pilots.The aircrew situation is bad enough in the USA where airlines are struggling to fi ll crew slots; and in Europe a crew-scheduling problem forced low cost leader Ryanair to cancel scores of fl ights, leaving people stranded and creating a horrif i c customer relations headache for them.

中國應該如何填補飛行員和機組人員的缺口？盡管中國已經明確了發展通用航空業的目標，大多數飛行員學生被派往國外培訓。亞利桑那州和佛羅里達州主要的幾個飛行學校的中國學生約占80%。這表明，中國政府促進發展通用航空業的決心已經產生了積極的影響。很多機場已改建以供通用航空使用，新的通用航空機場建設計劃比比皆是，一些具有前瞻性的城市越來越重視航空展的舉辦。但通用航空文化的發展仍有些拖延和欠缺。在美國，航空文化長期以來一直活躍于電影、電視、雜志等各種文化領域，尤其在美國本地的許多機場，很多年輕人從很小的年紀就開始實際接觸相關工作。像我12歲開始就在機場幫忙，為私人飛機提供清洗和其他各種服務。中國把飛行員送到美國、澳大利亞和歐洲培訓可能在短期內解決危機，但是如果能擴大自己的飛行學校，讓飛行學校擁有標有中國名牌、中國制造的飛機機隊,不是能更好地服務國家嗎？這樣有利于實現三個目標：培訓必需的機組人員；在制造飛機的過程中通過手把手地演示和啟發教導及培訓飛機維修人員，可以節省大量時間和資金。

How is this pilot and crew gap to be filled in China? Despite the stated aim of developing General Aviation, China is still sending the vast majority of flight students abroad.The enrollment statistics at major fl ight schools in Arizona and Florida show around 80% Chinese students.It would seem that a great opportunity is being missed here.There’s no doubt that President XI’s commitment to promote GA is having a positive effect.Airports have been converted and revamped for GA use, new GA airport construction plans abound, and airshows feature prominently in progressive municipalities, but it seems that there have been some delays and a lack of underlying culture. This is a disadvantage compared to America where aviation has long been in every single thread of culture from movies, TV, magazines, and especially access to local airports where many a youngster like myself cut his teeth washing and servicing private planes.Sending crews to the USA, Australia and Europe may solve the crisis in the short term, but wouldn’t China be best served by a major expansion of fl ight schools with its own fl eet of airplanes – airplanes made in China and branded as Chinese? This would serve three purposes: train the necessary fl ight crews; train the maintenance support personnel through shadowing and mentoring during the manufacturing process, and save signif i cant time and money.

中國如何能培養自己的飛行員隊伍？

在全國推行航空運輸培訓需要時間、資金和堅定的意愿——這個意愿是指認為這是一項有價值的努力。正在海外接受培訓的飛行員，其中有一些將成為回國培訓下一屆學員的理想人選。在所有完成培訓的飛行員中選出最優秀的人才，并讓他們把技能傳承下去，這就解決了誰來培訓新學員的問題。西方國家一直是這樣進行的，先學后教。 當然還需要很多硬件設施。制造新飛機的一個主要障礙是開發和獲得政府許可的成本較高，這個許可被稱為“TC”(型號合格證),是航空管理局允許諸如Piper（派珀）和Cessna（塞斯納）等飛行器制造商制造飛機的許可文件。近年來開發和獲取一個新的型號合格證并進入市場需要花費10年時間和約1億美元的資金。這將是一個巨大的障礙。但即便如此，已有幾個在美國和中國都獲得了許可的“型號合格證”可供制造飛機。中國可以考慮購買知名的通用航空型飛機，用作培訓飛行員和機務人員的培訓機，這也許可以成為中國啟動和加快發展通用航空業的一個催化劑。

How to train Chinese Pilots by China?

To move air transport training in country will require time, money and the will to do so – the perception that it is a worthwhile endeavour. As scores of pilots are being trained offshore currently, some of them will be the right fi t to return and begin the training for the next gaggle.That is a natural result of sending the best and brightest.Of those who make the grade, some should be selected to pass their skills on, and this will solve the issue of who will do the training.This is exactly how it works in the West; learn and then teach. Still you need the hardware and lots of it.A major barrier to manufacturing new airplanes has been the cost of developing or acquiring a government manufacturing approval known as a (TC) “Type Certif i cate.” This is the aviation authority document allowing manufacturers like Piper and Cessna to build airplanes.Recent entries into the market have expended up to 10 years and $100 million USD to develop new TC’s.This is a very signif i cant barrier to entry.That said there are a few TC”s available in the open marketplace to build planes that are valid in both the USA and China.Acquisition of a well known and proven GA type aircraft to be used as a training tool both for pilots and maintenance personnel might be the catalyst that China needs to get their own General Aviation activity jumpstarted.

韋恩4歲時第一次跟隨父親開飛機

韋恩的母親是歷史上第一位表演空中海報的女飛行員

中美之間最近發生的貿易戰凸顯了中國發展國內通用航空產業的必要性。中國為開發和設計新型飛機付出了很多努力。在缺乏建造飛機的經驗之時就試圖設計更好的飛機是有風險的。因此，中國航空管理局在認證任何新設計之前都非常謹慎。另一方面，收購經過認證的飛機TC將使中國能夠利用其現有的相關技術人才，迅速開始建造輕型飛機。瑞士信貸集團發布的調查結果顯示，現在的中國年輕人偏向購買中國制造的商品，那么在飛機的選擇上，為什么不如此？

The recent possibility of a trade war between China and the USA underscores the need for China to develop a domestic GA Industry.Much effort has been expended in trying to develop newer styles and Chinese aircraft designs.This is problematic because there isn’t enough history to fully understand the perils of trying to make better planes, before building proven ones.The benchmarks for safety, and commercial success do not yet exist.Accordingly the Chinese Aviation Authority moves very cautiously before certifying any new design.On the other hand, the acquisition of a certified aircraft TC with a known history and performance stats would enable China to quickly begin constructing light aircraft and to employ its existing workforce in skills that they have demonstrated excellent aptitude for.It’s also noteworthy that Credit Suisse has published fi ndings to indicate that now young Chinese much prefer China produced goods, so why not airplanes?

中國可以通過收購通用航空飛機的型號合格證和相關資產，來加速這一進程。只有擁有中國制造的訓練飛機，才能使中國在航空產業上獲得它想要和應得的獨立自主性。中國有能力生產小型飛機，訓練自己的飛行員和機組人員，建造小型機場，也有能力發展支持通用航空系統的所有相關產業。我所在的Clear Sky有限公司非常樂意為中國同行引進小型飛機和航空培訓提供相關資源。我們應該銘記,是通用航空產業培養了飛行員、機械師和機組人員，它就像拉動馬車的那匹馬，是它拉動了整個航空業飛速奔馳。

In order to accelerate this process, China could quickly acquire GA aircraft TC’s and assets.A fleet of Chinese built training planes would give China the independence in aviation it wants and deserves.China has the ability to manufacture small planes, train its own pilots and crews, develop its small airports, and all of the associated support industries necessary for a General Aviation system.My Clear Sky Ltd is willing to provide relative resources for China.It’s useful to remember that it has always been General Aviation that trained the pilots, mechanics and crews that feed the airline industry.It’s the horse that pulls the cart.