'Little Eagles' earn their wings

The students live on the university campus, wear non-designated military uniform, and are trained by captains and political instructors both. They also attend classes taken by regular teachers at the high school. Zou's school, as one of the first five pilot schools, produced 25 flying cadets for the air force last year. But the air force has enlisted just 40 pilot cadets from Jilin, a province with about 27 million people, in recent years.

In the No. 6 Middle School of Wuhan in Hubei, another pilot school that collaborates with the PLA Air Force Warning College, life for the "little eagles" is comparatively easy. The trainees live in the high school dormitories, wear school as well as military uniform, and are allowed to interact with the other students.

Wang Hao, principal of the school in Jilin, says his school chooses young and capable male teachers as class supervisors. "The boys are in a special period of their life. The teachers must have rich experience to guide and prepare them for the military ... The teachers have to be careful in designing the curriculum of the 'little eagles', reducing the reading and writing syllabus to ensure their eyesight is not damaged."

At the end of 2013 and before sitting for the college entrance exam, the youths wrote a joint letter to Xu Qiliang, then chief commander of PLA Air Force and the present vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, stating their resolve to be air force pilots. "Study hard, and wish you all fly in the sky as early as possible," Xu replied.

Apart from the 25 flying cadets enrolled by the aviation university, all of the other students from the "Little Eagle Class" of the Jilin high school received offers from universities across the country.

Origins of the project

Although China is home to the largest population in the world, its "aviation population" is comparatively small, because most of the good middle school students' eyesight and physical health are not good enough for the air force. Also, some of them are lured by the other better-paying jobs.

Statistics show China's booming civil aviation industry needs about 60,000 pilots by 2020. Their recruitment criteria are lower and salaries higher than the air force. "The number of young people qualifying as air force pilots is fixed, and they are important strategic human resources of the country. The idea is to select the best flight talents," says Xing Guoping, professor of aviation studies at the aviation university.