Jet launch inspires 'Carrier Style' craze online

A Beijing resident imitates "Carrier Style" at home on Monday. [Photo/China Daily]

The success of the exercise on the Liaoning, using a ski-jump style take-off instead of a catapult system, makes China one of a handful of countries to have mastered the landing and take-off of fixed-wing jets on an aircraft carrier.

Refitted from the former Soviet Union's unfinished carrier Varyag, China's first aircraft carrier was towed to Dalian in Northeast China in 2003.

Chinese authorities said the aircraft carrier will be mainly used for training and scientific research, and its operation will not change the national defense policy, which is defensive in nature.

Military experts estimated that the J-15 has comprehensive capabilities comparable to those of the Russian Su-33 and the US F/A-18.

Luo Yang, the chief of the carrier-borne J-15 project died of a heart attack on Sunday.

CCTV confirmed Luo's death on Monday. Many netizens' reacted with disbelief to the sad news.

"I just could not control such mixed feelings on a day when we should have had thousands of reasons for celebration," a Sina Weibo user named Shuijunnandang wrote on the website.

"Under unimaginable pressure, Luo sacrificed himself to turn J-15 jets' take-off and landing into reality."