Harbin Flight Academy

The Harbin Flight Academy (Chinese: 哈尔滨飞行学院; pinyin: Hā'ěrbīn Fēixíng Xuéyuàn) is an aviation training academy in the People's Republic of China reporting directly to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) headquarters.[1][2] One of three flight academies in the PLAAF, Harbin Flight Academy is located in Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province and is the only institution to train the Chinese air force bomber pilots.[1][3][4]

Harbin Flight Academy
哈尔滨飞行学院
Active1949–present
Country People's Republic of China
Allegiance Chinese Communist Party
Branch People's Liberation Army Air Force
TypeTraining Academy
Part ofPLAAF Headquarters
Nickname(s)Unit 93163
Aircraft flown
TrainerJL-9, JL-10, H-6

The academy operates the Hongdu JL-8,[5] Guizhou JL-9,[6][7] Chengdu JL-10,[8] and Xian H-6 aircraft.[1]

History

Established on 1 December 1949, months after establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Harbin Flight Academy began as the Air Force 1st Bomber School (空军第一轰炸学校) under the Shenyang Military Region Air Force. The school was renamed to the Air Force First Aviation School in 1976 and the Air Force First Aviation School in 1976, again to the Air Force 1st Aviation Academy (第一航空学校) in September of 1986, and once more in 1996 to the Air Force 1st Flight College (空军第一航空学院). The 1st Flight College first accepted female pilots in 2008.[9] In August of 2011, the college was renamed to the Harbin Flight College when it merged with the Air Force 3rd Flight College (空军第三飞行学院). Also in 2011, the headquarters of the four military branches met and decided to integrated the then six flight academies of the PLAAF into three in Harbin, Shijiazhuang, and Xi'an.[1] The 1st and 3rd Flight Colleges were merged into Harbin Flight Academy, the 4th and 6th into Shijiazhuang Flight Academy, and the 2nd and 5th into Xi'an Flight Academy.[1][3][10] Harbin Flight Academy was designated a corps deputy leader grade unit.[11][12]

In 2017, the PLAAF changed its official English translation of the name from Harbin Flight College to Harbin Flight Academy.[1]

Organization

The Harbin Flight Academy previously comprised separate basic and advanced trainer regiments (初级教练团 and 高级教练团, respectively), however, the academy transitioned in 2012 to numbered training brigades (训练旅) ranging from the 1st Training Brigade to the 5th Training Brigade. Below each brigade are three flight groups (飞行大队) each of which represents a training class (班).[1][3] The academy's staff is structured similarly to an operational PLA unit maintaining a staff department, political work department, and support department.[3] Contrary to the academies of foreign air forces, Harbin Flight Academy instructors are not senior, experienced pilots, but instead comprise the academy's valedictorians who remain at the academy following their graduation to instruct.[1]

Aircraft operated by the Harbin Flight Academy can be identified by their four digit tail numbers led by the number '1' and the penultimate digit communicates the training brigade (from 1st to 5th). Similar tail numbers beginning with a '2' or '3' belong to the Shijiazhuang or Xi'an Flight Academies, respectively.[12]

Training

The 2nd Training Brigade of the academy exclusively train bomber pilots. From the academy's days as the 1st Flight College, the 2nd Training Brigade trained its students on H-5 bombers (a copy of the Ilyushin Il-28) until 2007 when the brigade only trained on Xian Y-7 transport aircraft, depriving to-be pilots of any experience on the bomber platforms they'd fly until they reached their first assignment.[13] Training on Y-8 transport aircraft continued until April 2015 when the academy received the latest H-6K bombers and the first class trained on the new H-6Ks graduated a year later in February 2016.[1][14]

Students of Harbin Flight Academy, like those of Xi'an and Shijiazhuang Flight Academies, have already graduated from Air Force Aviation University with a bachelor's degree and will be awarded a second bachelor's upon graduation of Harbin Flight Academy.[3]

In 2018, the academy introduced unscripted air combat exercises exposing pilots to unexpected conditions fulfilling a goal set by the PLAAF in 2011.[15][16][17] The same year, Harbin Flight Academy expanded its enrollment of female pilots to accept 38 new female high school graduates.[18] Also in 2018, the academy made minor English headlines after a quick-thinking squad leader at the academy saved a trainee who had failed to lob his grenade over a training wall.[19]

In 2020, a year after Shijianzhuang Flight Academy, Harbin Flight Academy received the JL-10 fourth-generation trainer aircraft, reducing the technical gap between PLAAF trainer and operational aircraft.[8]

In 2021, cadets at Harbin Flight Academy demonstrated new low-altitude training in the canyons of northeast Liaoning province.[20][21]

Notable alumni

See also
  • Xi'an Flight Academy
  • Shijiazhuang Flight Academy

References
  1. Allen, Kenneth W. (2 May 2022). "PLA Air Force: Bomber Force Organization" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute. pp. 17–19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2022.
  2. Allen, Kenneth W.; Mulvaney, Brendan (2021). "Changes in the PLA's Military Education". The People of the Pla 2.0: 167–204 – via JSTOR.
  3. Allen, Kenneth; Chen, Mingzhi (11 June 2020). "The People's Liberation Army's 37 Academic Institutions" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute.
  4. "Air Force Harbin Flight Academy". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 25 November 2019.
  5. Kevin McCauley [@@knmccauley1] (25 March 2018). "PLA Air Force Harbin Flight Academy has recently conducted a training involving a stall tail spin on the JL8 for the first time in more than 20 years, signalling a reinforcement of real combat training for the Air Force" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. Global Times [@globaltimesnews] (19 January 2019). "A JL-9 fighter trainer airplane attached to an aviation brigade under the PLA Air Force Harbin Flight Academy soars over the sky during a flight training exercise in mid-January, 2019" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. People's Daily [@PDChina] (17 November 2017). "China's first group of 12 military pilots on new training methods recently have completed combat readiness training using the Guizhou JL-9 training plane at the PLA Air Force Harbin Flight Academy" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. Solen, Derek (3 November 2021). "PLA Air Force Shifts Transition Training to the Schoolhouse" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute.
  9. Allen, Kenneth W. (15 November 2021). "Overview of Females in the PLA Air Force" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute.
  10. Solen, Derek (16 February 2021). "Initial Fighter Pilot Training in the PLA Air Force" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute.
  11. Lee, Ya-Ming (2021-10-01). Knowing the People's Liberation Army. 李亞明. ISBN 978-957-43-9523-1.
  12. Allen, Kenneth W. (12 April 2021). "70 Years of the PLA Air Force" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute. p. 139.
  13. "PLA shifts bombers to flight-training role". China Daily. 13 May 2016.
  14. "China's "Little Eagles": People's Liberation Army Developing its Next-Generation Pilots" (PDF). China Aerospace Studies Institute.
  15. "Chinese Aviation Academies Introduce Free Air Combat Training" (PDF). US Department of Defense: All Partners Access Network.
  16. "空军哈尔滨飞行学院组织作战行动背景下合同训练" [Air Force Harbin Flying Academy organizes contract training under the background of combat operations]. Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese). 25 November 2021.
  17. "空军哈尔滨飞行学院开展低空山谷飞行训练2" [Air Force Harbin Flight Academy conducts low-altitude valley flight training]. China Youth Daily (in Chinese). 21 February 2021.
  18. "Third batch of female fighter jet pilots to officially join PLA Air Force". People's Daily. 11 June 2018.
  19. "空军新兵投弹失手 "生死3秒"内班长化险为夷" [Air Force recruit misses a bomb and within 3 seconds of life and death, the squad leader saves the day]. CCTV (in Chinese). 30 October 2018.
  20. People's Daily [@PDChina] (7 February 2021). "In video: the cadets of the PLA Air Force Harbin Flight Academy conducted this year's first low-altitude flight training at a valley in the northern part of northeast Liaoning province recently" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. "空军哈尔滨飞行学院：低空战术导航训练，锤炼学员打赢本领" [Air Force Harbin Flying Academy: Low-altitude tactical navigation training, tempering students' winning skills]. CCTV7 (in Chinese). 10 February 2022.
  22. Luo, Xiao (6 August 2019). "我国培养空军轰炸机飞行员的军校，是东北老航校精神的传播基地". KK News: Daily Headlines.
  23. "中国人民解放军空军哈尔滨飞行学院政治部副主任张理迎一行来我校调研" [Zhang Liying, deputy director of the Political Department of the Harbin Flying Academy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force, and his party came to our school for investigation]. Shanghai Maritime University (in Chinese).
  24. Chen, Shanshan (7 Jul 2022). "Air China Boss Takes Over as Head of China's Aviation Regulator". YiCai Global.

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