A female trainee pilot of the China Air Force undergoes flight training. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Female trainee pilots of the China Air Force exchange their ideas after class. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Female trainee pilots undergo physical training. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Female trainee pilots take an aviation knowledge examination. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Female trainee pilots take a competency examination. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Female trainee pilots take a group photo to mark their time at university. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Twenty-nine female trainee pilots of the No.1 Air Force Flight Academy successfully gained their qualifications to attend higher level flying training on Thursday.

China News Service reported that all the pre-pilots, who have enjoyed China's first-ever flying training system that includes 2.5 years of basic flying instruction and 1.5 years of flight training, have passed comprehensive and tough examinations in nearly 100 subjects at the Aviation University of the Chinese PLA Air Force in Changchun, capital of northern China's Jilin Province.

The university carried out its 8th recruitment of female pilots in 2005, attracting more than 200,000 candidates at that time. Now, only 29 elite pilots will have the necessary qualifications to enter the final training stage.

Besides air transportation and air navigation, the school also offers extra courses in airborne early warning systems, airborne refueling and air reconnaissance to its trainee pilots for the first time.

(CRI December 29, 2007)