5 Minutes with AOPA-China

The Handover

New airport ushered in a dual-airport era for Beijing.

9月25日23点21分，随着最后一架飞机从北京南苑机场起飞，南苑机场正式关闭，结束了百年来的民航使命。作为中国历史上第一座机场，南苑始建于1910年，距今已有109年的历史，这里曾历经清政府和北洋政府的建设，1949年中国人民解放军在此组建了第一个空军飞行中队，并成功组织了开国大典的首次空中阅兵。20世纪80年代，这里成了军民两用机场，也是中国联合航空的基地。可以说南苑机场是中国民航业的发源地，见证了中华民族百年奋斗的历史。

9月25日注定是民航史上浓墨重彩的一天。这一天，习近平主席宣布“北京大兴国际机场正式投运”。联合航空的全部航班也由南苑转移到大兴，至此，南苑机场完成了历史使命的交接，大兴机场承载着民族的期望，蓬勃启航。

大兴机场的ICAO代码是ZBAD，IATA代码是PKX。航展楼的形状如展翅的凤凰。它被誉为世界最大的机场，相当于98个足球场或63个天安门广场。

根据计划，2019年冬春航季共有15家航司确定入驻大兴机场，其中国内航司7家，包括南航，东航，国航，中航联，河北航，首都航，喝吉祥航空国外航司8家包括英国航空、波兰航空、芬兰航空、马来西亚航空、摩洛哥皇家航空、文莱皇家航空、俄罗斯艾菲航空、喜马拉雅航空。

在大兴机场，乘客们将会体验到黑科技：“5G+AI”，从值机到行李托运、从安检到登机全过程人脸识别便捷服务，全程智能化，无纸化。小编等不及要去体验了！

Dean, as one of our many members, talks about his experiences in an airplane. Find out the fun experiences and please share yours with us. 

当下无人机备受欢迎，许多发烧友买来当玩具玩，摄影爱好者也会用其来进行航拍。

但是，小小的无人机也是航空器，基本的航空知识和航空安全不容忽视。而现实是许多无人机飞手其实并不了解基本的航空原理和航空法规。无人机是缩小版的航空器，操作不当，可能会伤人伤己。

过去航拍，专业摄影师要在直升机或者固定翼小飞机上，系好安全带，探出身去，捕捉珍贵的画面。现在有了无人机，似乎安装一个摄像头，人人都可以成为航拍摄影师。其实不然，先进的拍摄工具同样需要专业的拍摄技能。请大家尊重航拍专业人士，专业安全使用无人机，拍出美丽的照片。

本期航空五分钟，我们非常高兴与中国AOPA的会员Dean Head一起聊聊这些话题。

Dean是一名飞行员，同时也在电影制作行业从事了39年，他呼吁无人机制造商能够给小无人机加装桨叶保护以减小意外出现时的伤害。点击音频，听听他的想法吧！

Hello, thanks for tuning in to 5 Minuteswith AOPA-China. This episode, we have our esteem guest here, Dean Head, aprofessional filmmaker and pilot, as well as one of AOPA-China members. He hasa say about drone safety.

Dean: The photographer friend of mine inHong Kong, we have a facebook group of professional photographers, cameramen,filmmakers, etc. He complained his new DJI drone crashed just a few feet fromlanding. When he described what he did, I realized his helicopter, his droneencountered LTE, the loss of tail-rotor effectiveness. It means when you turndownwind, if the conditions are exact and coincidental where the speed of thewind matches the speed of your machine, then your blades become ineffective andit just drops out of the sky and crashes. That’s what it happened. So I had tosend him the Wikipedia link to explain it. These drones are real machines, nottoys. They can kill you or take your eye out.

Claire: I’ve just changed my department. Wewere receiving pictures of people getting hurt by drones, bloody andhorrifying. People get to know that’s not only a fancy thing, that’s also adangerous thing.

Dean: I guess you can say it anunderstandable mentality that it’s a toy, so a dad will run out and buy it forhis 7-year-old son. And only after the accident, they realize oh my god this isactually a real machine only miniaturized. I’ve been always worried aboutchildren’s eyes as well as adults’. I am always a good believer and promoter ofdrone manufactures putting blade guards on the rotors. I contacted my friend, avery famous Hollywood helicopter pilot and he does most areas of the bigblockbuster movies. And I asked him “Do you think the guards will affect theaerodynamics negatively?” And he said “The degree that it faces is negligible,it may take one or two minutes of your flight time.” So manufactures should goand help protect people.

I read about a report in Central Park inNew York. Someone was flying a new DJI drone about six years ago. Someone waswalking past “ Oh, that’s interesting”. The person with the control box said”yes, would you like to have a go”, and gave him the control box. And it flew,hitting him in the head and killed him. I read it but I forget where, I had toGoogle to find it. I don’t think it’s a wild tale, I think it’s actuallyhappened. It’s real.

Claire: I don’t think it’s a hand-overthing. It’s like I’m piloting an airplane and say “Would you like to have a try”to a passenger? How come?

Dean: With me being a filmmaker, I’ve beendoing it for 39 years. I started when I was 16 and we didn’t have gimbal orgyro back then for the public. So I would put a body harness on when I didhelicopter aerials, climbed outside and stand on the skid and do aerials. Andlater gimbal came. So when you had that training, you understand how to movethe camera and when(what time of the day) etc. to make it a visceral visuallydynamic experience for the viewer as if they were actually there. And thatexperience is called film making or being a cameraman.

So today when people buy drones, they haveno training or idea about how or when to move the camera. They love flying themachine so much they decide to make a business. They have their business cardprinted. Magically overnight they become filmmakers. The people that hire ushave no clue that this person doesn’t know what he is doing. As Confucius says,we don’t know what we don’t know. So they get hired, and we lose businesses,that’s an experience.

Claire: I’ve got a lot of complains frompeople like you, professional photographers or filmmakers. They get squeezedout of this market because of the cost. Maybe some kind of laymen just buythose things and think they could take good pictures. It’s getting the price ofthe film making industry down while the quality is down as well.

Dean: It’s a race to the bottom as we say.When you speak to clients, “Ah, your price is getting so expensive”. Actuallywhen you look at the big picture, our price is not expensive. It’s thecompetition that becomes so cheap. And there is say :we are racing towardsoblivion instead of racing towards infinity.

Nice, easy and insightful talk. I know youwant to hear more. Next episode, Dean will tell us his incredible flightexperiences. This is end. Feel free to leave comments and messages. Find us onWechat, Facebook, Twitter, Ximalaya and any podcast platform at “5 Minuets withAOPA-China”. If you like us, tell your friends more about us. See you nextweek.

Episode 62 Drone talk

Nick: There are dozens of drone shows allaround China in 2019, and even more in the world.

Claire: Not to mention drone conferences.Topics cover delivery, agricultural, search and rescue and regulations ofcourse. To top that, the number of people involved in drone industry in Chinahas reached 300 thousand. I am Claire.

Nick: I am Nick. You are listening to 5Minutes with AOPA-China.

Claire: Today, 5 Minutes with AOPA-Chinabrings you Drone Talk. Problems in the future to be solved.

Nick: Instead of discussing about whatdrone can do, let’s start with things drone cannot do.

Claire: Drones are limited to theirperformances; how high they can fly and how much payload they can carry.

Nick: With a battery life for 30 minutes, dronescannot travel too far or they need infrastructures to recharge them. That’s thesituation for most consumer drones.

Claire: Big ones are regulated underspecific and certification regulations and SORA approach is used to assess theoperation risk.

Nick: In 2017, FAA initiated the UASIntegrated Pilot Program (IPP). This program, which includes nine lead participantsacross the U.S., fosters innovation while maintain its safety level.  Through the IPP, the FAA works closely withlocal authorities, private sector partners, academia, and community groups tofacilitate the applications of drone technology.

Claire: More complex scenarios such asOperations Over people (OOP), Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), nightoperations and operations with multiple drone flights were tested.

More than 1,700 UAS flights and tests formissions that included small package delivery, medical package delivery, linearinfrastructure inspections, farming operations, land surveys, real estate,newsgathering, and post-hurricane damage assessments. These efforts are openingdoors to new business opportunities and creating new job markets while at thesame time accelerating the integration process.

Nick: Familiar scenarios are here in Chinatoo. In Shenzhen, we set up a zone for UTIMISS for drone management. So far itworks out fine.

Claire: New regulations will be publishedin the coming months in China. Stakeholders are on their toes waiting andacting accordingly to better the market and take fully advantage of drones inthe future.

Nick: One post caught my eyes is thatpictures one of my friends took by drone when he travels. They are stunning.And another one piece of news that ISIS terrorist used a drone carrying a bomb,due to low battery the drone flew back to him and exploded the terrorist.

Claire: Big issue to solve, when lowbattery occurs, Should the drone go back to its home or should it land there orshould it go to its designated place.

Nick: In my opinion, it should go whereverthe damage is the smallest.

Claire: Drone market is with open sourceand racing forward. As for the authorities, they have difficulty getting everystakeholder on the same page to tackle the problem.

Nick: ICAO is working on the SARPs, China’sdrone management is developing every day.

Claire: With so many associations,companies, authorities, and users on the stage, hurdles in terms of safety,privacy, and insurance are in the way, However, the drone market is showing nosigns of slowing down.

Nick: Still I feel positive about thefuture. That brings us to end of today’s 5 Minutes with AOPA-China. Nextepisode, we’ll have an easy talk with Dean, a professional cameraman and pilot, on drone safety issue as well as his flying stories.

Claire: If you like us, please rate us orreview us on Wechat, Facebook, Twitter Ximalaya or any podcast platform at “5Minutes with AOPA-China”. The easiest way to support us is to tell your friendsmore about us. See you next week.

无人机时代和智能时代已经悄然来临。2019年国内无人机相关的展会不下20个，世界范围上来说就更为火热了。以无人机为主题的会议也开得如火如荼，话题不仅包含了物流运输，农业应用，和应急救援还有政策规范和标准。

据不完全统计，中国的无人机从业人数早已经超过30万人。今天的中国AOPA航空五分钟节目和大家聊聊无人机的事情。无人机的应用非常广泛，那么无人机神通广大的，无人机的运行限制都有哪些呢。无人机的应用前景和它的性能息息相关，无人机的升限是多少，无人机的载荷能达到多少，都是限制因素。

大部分消费级无人机的续航大概能到30分钟左右，或者是说无人机需要在长途运输中有动力补给站。大型无人机在运行过程中需要依照其风险大小开展作业。SORA体系就是为这一类运行准备的。

2017年，FAA启动了无人机融合计划（IPP）。计划中在全美国设立了9个试验点，在试验点区域内在保证飞行安全的前提下验证无人机的技术和应用。在这些试验点中，相对复杂的运行场景都一一进行了验证，例如人群上空运行，超视距运行，夜间运行以及集群运行。不同的应用方向包括：包裹递送，医疗用品运输，管线检查，农业运用，土地勘测，房地产监测，信息收集，灾后损害评估等等。通过这样的试验方法创造了很多新的就业机会乃至于无人机市场，于此同时也加快了无人机融入现有空域系统的进程。

目前，中国在深圳也开始了类似的无人机试点。对无人机的区域运用与区域监管进行了探索。

接下来的一段时间，国内将出台无人机的法规，从立法方面为无人机行业定下基础依据。

ICAO也在无人机运行规范和标准方面做出了建设性意见。协会希望将来的无人机行业能有序健康发展，让无人机的优势充分发挥在社会活动中在保障飞行安全的同时，给大家带来便利。

下一期中国AOPA航空五分钟栏目将请到我们的会员Dean， 他是一位飞行员也是一位专业的摄影师。和他相关的飞行故事，精彩不容错过。咱们下期再见。

Episode 61 Airport Codes

Claire: Hello this is 5 Minutes withAOPA-China. Imagine you’re sitting in first class on an Air China Boeing 777,headed from Beijing CapitalInternational Airport to London Heathrow. Theboarding pass in your jacketpocket the check-in lady just handed to you says, ofcourse, PEK to LHR: the familiar three-letter codes that every frequent flyer knows.

Nick: But just a few feet ahead of you, onthe flight deck, the flight plan in front of the captain’s eyes says yourdestination is EGLL(Echo Golf Lima Lima). And tomorrow, when the airplane you’re on willfly from London to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, that flight plan will say the destination is RJTT(RomeoJuliet Tango Tango), not HND(Hotel November Delta). And what about ZGGG(Zulu GolfGolf,Yankee Sierra Sierra Yankee), YSSY and MMMX?

Claire: Those are the four-letter codesused by ICAO, the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization, toidentify airports instead of the more common three-letter designations used byIATA, the International Air Transport Association. What’s up with that?Here’s all you need to know.

Nick: First of all, to betterunderstand the jumble of letters and codes, we have to travel a few decadesback in time.

When World War II was ending, governmentscame round the idea that the developing commercial aviation industry could dowith a higher degree of standardization. So two major aviation organizationswere created that would play a major role in the consolidation of civilianaviation over the decades: ICAO and IATA.

Claire: You may be forgiven for mixing themup: after all they are both based in Montreal and often work on the sameissues, but they are different in nature. While ICAO is an internationalorganization under the auspices of the United Nations, IATA is a tradeassociation that looks after the interests of the airline industry.

Nick: Each of them came up with its owncode system, based on its own separate logic, to identify airports around theworld. And this is where things got messy.

Claire: No doubt you’ll ask whendo you use which code? Roughly: the three-letter IATA codes are used byairlines for commercial purposes and in passenger-facing activities. Thefour-letter ICAO codes appear in technical documents, such as flight plans, aeronautical charts. So you’re far more likely as a passenger to encounter the former, but you’re far morelikely to impress an aviation enthusiast if you know the latter.

Nick:The ICAO system has a distinct advantage: Itidentifies an airport’s location, the geographiccontext, anywhere in the world. That’s because the first letterdesignates a “region,” the second letter designates a country and the remainingtwo represent a specific airport.

Claire: Zoom in a bit, though, and the system gets a littlemore complex.

Some very large countries suchas China, Russia or Australia, have a letter all theirown. Z represents China, Urepresents Russia and Y for Australia. But Europe is divided inroughly two zones — North, using “E” as identifier, and South, using “L”.Africa, in turn, is divided in four large regions. The second letter of the code designates thecountry or, in the case of large countries, a specific area within thatcountry.

Nick: Thus,in China, BeijingCapital International is ZBAA: where Z for China, B for BeijingFlight Information Region. ZBPD, Shanghai Pudong International: also Z forChina, S for Shanghai FIR. As in Europe, London Heathrow is EGLL: where E forNorthern Europe, G for Great Britain, See a pattern?

Claire:In comparison, IATA codes sound simpler and areeasier to remember. You don’t need to be an hardcore aviation fan to know that PEKis Beijing and BOS is Boston. They are used wherever communication with thegeneral public is involved, such as in flight schedules, boarding passes andbaggage tags.

Nick: And they have a potential as something else:marketing tools. Why do I say so? 3-letter words are popular in advertisingcampaign. They often replace the airport’s fullname in ads or slogans.

Claire: But these codes do not provide a geographicalcontext, and this makes it difficult to locate an airport if you are notfamiliar with it. Most of us may be able to recall what LHR stands for, but wouldyou be able to locate LHP and LHS as easily? You may be forgiven for not knowingLehu, in Papua New Guinea, and Las Heras, a small airport in Argentina.

Nick: While pretty much all airports havean ICAO code, many smaller GA airports do not have an IATA code. Basically, ifthey are marked on a flight map, it probably has an ICAO code.

Claire: In China, things are a little bitdifferent due to the GA industry is still in its infancy. Most GA airports don’thave a ICAO or IATA code yet. However, to cater the demand of development andpromote the industry boom, the code will be a must. AOPA-China is makingefforts in this part.

Nick: That brings us to the end of today’s5 Minutes with AOPA-China. If you like us, please rate us or review us onWechat, Facebook, Twitter Ximalaya or any podcast platform. To support us, justsend your friends your favorite episode. See you next week.

飞机即将起飞，一位头等舱乘客将自己的登机牌放在了一边，上面写着PEK—LHR。作为常飞旅客肯定一眼就看出来这是从北京飞往伦敦的航班。不远处的驾驶舱里，机长正在浏览飞行计划，上面写着此趟航班的目的地是EGLL；后续航班是从伦敦飞往东京羽田机场，飞行计划里却写着目的地是RJTT,而不是HND。这是怎样一回事呢？

（机票）

大部分机场既有三字代码又有四字代码。四字代码是由国际民航组织（ICAO）规定的，三字代码是由国家航空运输协会（IATA）规定的。为了更好地了解这两种代码，首先让我们回到七十多年前，二战快要结束的时候，世界各国商讨为了促进刚刚起步的商业航空发展，我们需要更高要求的标准，于是两大国际组织ICAO和IATA分别与1944年和1945年相继成立。

（ICAO Logo、IATA Logo）

由于他们的总部都在蒙特利尔，人们有时会弄混淆。其实，他们有本质上的差别。ICAO是联合国的一个专门机构，IATA代表着航空公司的利益，他们的代码体系也完全不一样。

那么什么时候用什么代码？

简单来说，IATA主要是航空公司用于一切有关乘客的活动中，如机票，行李牌和屏幕上的航班信息。ICAO代码主要是出现在一些技术性的文件里，如飞行计划、航图，使用者多为飞行员、空管、签派等专业从业人员。

ICAO代码有一个好处是：可以根据代码判断出机场的地理位置。第一字母表示地区或国家（国土面积较大的国家如中国、俄罗斯、澳大利亚，享有独有的国家代码：中国-Z,俄罗斯-U,澳大利亚-Y），第二个字母表示国家或国内分区（对于国土面积加大的国家而言）。比如说，E代表北欧，L代表南欧，EG便指英国（G=Great Britain）。同样在中国，北京首都机场的四字代码是ZBAA,Z代表中国，B代表北京飞行情报区。

（ICAO分区代码）

IATA代码对于乘客而言再熟悉不过了，它相对而言更容易记住，也常常成为所在城市的代号，出现在广告中或宣传标语里，但它无法告诉你所在机场的大致位置。你很有可能弄混ICN（仁川）和INC（银川），以前就有过韩国旅客买错机票去了银川；但飞行员是不会弄错的，因为RKSI（仁川国际机场）和ZLIC（银川国际机场）的首字母都不一样，所在国家肯定不一样。

另外，ICAO代码的普及率要高于IATA代码，国外许多通航小机场可能只有ICAO代码，没有IATA代码。可以肯定的是，出现在航图上的机场，都有ICAO代码。

但中国的情况有些特殊，我们的通航发展才刚刚起步，大多数通航机场既没有ICAO代码，也没有IATA代码，但随着通航的发展，与国际接轨时，小编认为这些代码是必不可少的。

It is a bird, it is a plane. It is flying across the sky. 

Nick: Hello guys, thanks for tuning in to 5 Minuteswith AOPA-China. This is Nick.

Claire: This is Claire. First of all, we have a pieceof news. I believe most of you may have heard of it. A Russian passenger jetA321 made an emergency landing in a cornfield shortly after takeoff fromMoscow.

Nick: Very fortunately, all 226 passengers and sevencrew members were safe, no fatalities.

Claire: It is said that some birds were sucked into theengines, causing engine failure.At last, the plane landed with its engines offand landing gears retracted.

Nick: Sounds really frightening. Never underestimatethe impact of these little creatures. Remember Flight 1549, the famous ditchingcase, known as the “Miracle On The Hudson”? It wasalso the bird strike that caused the accident.

Claire: The captain was hailed as a hero.Many people say Damir Yusupovhe is Russian Capt.Sully and speak highly of thecrew’s courage and professionalism. Just can’t imagine what the consequenceswould be if the crew didn’t make the correct decision.

Nick: Compared to an airplane, a bird doesn’tlook so destructive. What makes it so dangerous?

Claire: A bird is harmless, but a birdstrike can be deadly. If the birds are sucked into the engine, it will lead tocompressor stall. And a compressor stall can lead to a total loss of enginethrust, severe vibrations and loud bang of engines. It can have catastrophiceffect such as complete engine failure.

Nick: To conclude, jet aircraft are reallysusceptible to bird strike. But what about GA aircraft? They are small, andmost of them are propeller-driven. Comparatively speaking, birds are not easilysucked into their engines.

Claire: You are right. Small aircraft aremost likely to experience structural damage brought by bird strikes, such asthe penetration of flight deck windscreens or damage to control surfaces or theempennage. The force of the impact on an aircraft generally depends on theweight of the bird and the difference in velocity.

Nick: In some cases, especially with smallerfixed wing aircraft and helicopters, windscreen penetration may result ininjury to pilots or other persons on board and has sometimes led to loss ofcontrol. 

Claire: Bird Strikes can be a significantthreat to aircraft safety.

Nick: After doing some research, I findthat bird strikes occur more frequently than I thought. Here are somestatistics. According to FAA, there are about 14,400 strikes at 700 US airportsin 2017. About 53% of bird strikes occur from July to October which is whenyoung birds recently have fledged from nests and fall migration starts. About63% of bird strikes with civil aircraft occur in day, 8% at dawn or dusk, and29% at night.

Claire: About 61% of bird strikes occurduring landing; 36% during take-off run and climb; and the remaining 3% duringthe en-route phase.

Nick: Since bird strikes are so common,here comes the question, what should we to mitigate it?

Claire: That’s a pretty long storyactually. I have been reading a book about it recently. Different rolesincluding airports, air service providers, pilots and airframe&enginemanufacturers have different work to do.Take airports and pilots as examples.

Nick: Airports need to do well in habitatmanagement, including reduction or elimination of trees, shrubs and other plantswhich provide food, shelter or roosting site for birds. Also they should keepmonitoring birds and use scaring techniques to disperse them.

And my maintenance friend who works inChongqing Jiangbei Airport tells me that the airport keeps an eye on all thewildlife around, they record every possible data and study how birds behave. Sothey can take particular measures to deal with their enemies which for them arepigeons.

Claire: As bird strikes may occur mostlikely during the take-off, initial climb, approach and landing phases, pilotsneed to check NOTAM or ATIS for bird activity at departure and destinationairport. Plan to fly as high as possible, most birds fly below 2500ft. Birdsusually escape by diving, so try to fly over them, but do NOT risk a stall orspin. If the windshield is broken or cracked, slow the aircraft to reduce windblast, follow approved procedures, use sunglasses or smoke goggles to reducethe effect of wind, precipitation, or debris, but remember to fly the aircraft.

Nick: Don't be distracted by the blood,feathers, smell and windblast. I just know the fact that small general aviationaeroplane and helicopter windshields are not required to be tested against birdimpact.

Claire: Gulls and pigeons can hole lightaircraft windshields.

Nick: What else can you do with bird strikeas a pilot? Or did you experience any bird strike? Welcome to share with usyour ideas and stories.

Claire: That brings us to the end of today’s5 Minutes with AOPA-China. If you like our podcast, please tell your friendsmore about us. Rate us or review us on Wechat, Facebook, Twitter, Ximalaya orany podcast platform. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

Aviation Metal Fatigue is a concept for you to understand aircraft maintainance in a way. 

Nick: Hello, everyone. Thank you for tuningin to 5 minutes with AOPA-China.

Claire: Let’s start with a piece ofaviation news.

Nick: A 22-year-old Chinese cadet with hisinstructor at US aviation academy died in a plane crash.

Claire: Condolences to them and theirfamily. It’s such a great loss.

Nick: The US NTSB is leading theinvestigation now. It’s yet unclear who was flying the aircraft and what causedit to go down.

Claire: The crashed plane is a twin-enginePiper PA-34 which was manufactured in 1973.

Nick:So it is already 46 years old. Is ittoo old for a trainer?

Claire: Actually it’s normal for an oldplane to continue flying if it is well maintained. But if it is not, it doesneed retire. Anyway we are not jumping into any conclusions here, we will waitfor the official investigation report for this accident. Today, we want tocover the topic of what can lead a plane to retire.

Nick:You may be aware that there are manyold airplanes still flying in today's sky. As a matter of fact, An aircraft'slifespan is measured not in years but in pressurization cycles. Pressurizationcycle refers to the amount of time that the aircraft is kept under pressurefrom flight. Each time an aircraft is pressurized during flight, its fuselageand wings are stressed. Both are made of large, plate-like parts connected withfasteners and rivets, and over time, cracks develop around the fastener holes.Engineers call it metal fatigue.

Claire: Yes, if you’ve ever taken a paperclip and bent it back and forth until it breaks, you know at least a littlesomething about metal fatigue. It’s the cyclical application of pressure on themetal of the paper clip that eventually causes it to snap. The same can happenwith aircraft.

Nick:Each pressurization cycle involvestakeoff and landing. The fuselage is most susceptible to fatigue, especially onshort hauls where an aircraft goes through pressurization cycles every day. Onthe other hand, aircraft used on longer flights experience fewer pressurizationcycles, and can serve for more years.

Claire: How to determine the metal fatiguelevel that can cause dangerous damage to an aircraft?

Nick: There is a parameter called Limit ofValidity, or LOV. It sets the standard for metal fatigue test evidence.Basically, LOV is a measure of time a particular aircraft has before widespreadmetal fatigue becomes an issue. The manufacturers and operators of aircrafthave this information. Airlines are really relying on the manufacturer'smaintenance programs. The manufacturers design the aircraft to be trouble-freefor a certain period of time. There are maintenance actions to preclude anycatastrophic failures, but that's not to say the aircraft might not experiencemetal fatigue before those times. When you get to a certain point in theaircraft's lifespan, you need to inspect or replace certain parts.

Claire: Moreover, manufacturers must alsoadhere to several airworthiness directives set by authorities, for example, FAAin America. The AD focus mainly on identifying areas which are mostlysusceptible to widespread metal fatigue. They require manufacturers to makecostly inspections and repairs before the thresholds for airworthiness arereached.

Nick: Last week, we saw a variety ofwarbirds and vintage aircraft flying in Airventure Oshkosh. The models areantique and classic, but the airplanes look new. Don’t they suffer metalfatigue?

Claire；I think someaircraft are maintained in good condition. They are not pressurized asjetliners. Therefore, they suffer less metal fatigue, lasting for more years.And some are restored aircraft. Restoring involves disassembly of a knownquantity, inspecting and cleaning the component parts, repairing or replacingthe necessary parts, and then reassembling the airplane. Above all, therestored airplane should comply with AD too.

Nick：Now I see howimportant a role that maintenance staff play in aviation. That brings us to theend of episode 59. Any comments or complaints are welcome to tell us. Find uson WeChat, Facebook, Twitter, Ximalaya and any podcast platform. If you like usand want to support us, just tell your favorite episode to your friend. See younext week.

EAA celebrates its 50th anniversary in Oshkosh. Hi there, thanks for tuning in to 5 minuteswith AOPA-China. I know this episode’s preclude is quite awesome. That's thesound of F-22 Raptor.

These days, we have been diving in the EAAAirventure Oshkosh. Do you know the feelings when you see something in personthat can only be seen in pictures, videos or stories before? Such as F-35,A-10, P-51 mustang, spitfire, Spirit of st.Luis, Tri-motor, B-29 Superfotress,Boeing 747-8, Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker，you name it.

Among these aircraft in display, there aretwo from China, Nanchang CJ-6 and Sunward SA 60L Aurora . Aurora is atwo-seater LSA. CJ-6 is a basic trainer aircraft. You may be surprised, what?Chinese LSA in Oshkosh? Yes, even though the GA industry in China is still inits infancy, we are passionate to join the world biggest aviation celebration,eager to learn and grow.

Now, let’s go through some Chinese elementsin the Airventure.

First of all, as the representative ofAOPA-China, we brought our members all the way here to join this fantasticevent. Like me, many of them are first time visitors. We truly get a picture ofAmerican aviation. One of our members marveled: we took a time machine to thefuture, I’m pretty sure this is the future of Chinese aviation. Haha, much tolearn, long way to go.

We met Daniel, an awesome pilot from China,he is very active in our 5 PM aviation quiz. It’s a great pleasure to meet himin the Airventure! He flew to Oshkosh in his own aircraft. We had a niceconversation with two US pilots during lunch about the privatization of airtraffic control in America. Incredible right. They shared stories in learninghow to fly, Daniel also gave them some advice of learning aerobatics. Thepeople around us are so nice, always wearing a warm smile. Just say hi to starta conversation and make friends.

The fire burns higher with more peopleadding woods in it. Some Chinese GA companies have a booth in the field to showthe world that China is making efforts to grow GA. We welcome any internationalcommunication, support and cooperation.

July 25th, the director of Beihang GAresearch center organized a forum in the Forum Stage 3, giving a voice ofChinese GA development to the world. Representatives from China including Yangyuan yuan, the former administrator of CAAC, Keyubao, the executive SecretaryGeneral of AOPA-China, Claire, Chen Peng, the Secretary General of Z-Park GAindustrial Alliance delivered great speeches to let more people know about us.Our goal is to let more people fly safely in China.

In the forum, Dan Johnson, the president ofthe light aircraft manufacturers association said China is at the seed plantingstage. We should work together to bring the idea of flying small aircraft tothe people in China. And it requires years to built culture as America did.

As an individual, I feel crazy about theconvention, it hits me not only by the number of the aircraft docked, thewonderful air show, but the people with great enthusiasm, the culture builtupon years and years. As a member of Chinese GA community, I know there are alot of obstacles ahead, but we are not giving up exploring. EAA Airventure issuch a perfect venue for us to enjoy and learn.

The regional aircraft market continues to be a key growth sector withincommercial aviation, contributing significantly to efficiencies in the airlinenetworks and ensuring safe and seamless mobility, while respectingenvironmental obligations.

Regional carriers typically operate aircraft, such as regional jets andturboprops, with a seating capacity ranging from 20 to 130 seats, on short tomedium-haul routes. By the end of 2015 the regional aviation world fleetcomprised of about 9000 units (4350 turboprop and 4650 regional jet)representing more than 33% of the worldwide commercial fleet and performingover 40% of total commercial flights (and 25% of total flight hours).

In the recent past the annual worldwide traffic served by regionalaviation exceeded 700 billion ASK (Available Seat Kilometres). Only in Europewere regional carriers able to offer more than 120 billion ASKs to passengers,with an average distance of 320 NM (about 600 km) and more than 200 millionpeople flew on regional aircraft within the European network.

Regional aviation demonstrated its strongest traffic growth over thelast two decades. In the next 20 years regional air traffic is expected totriple at an average yearly rate of 6% (compared to a 5% rate in totalcommercial aviation).

The regional market is currently led by non-European players, with theexception of turboprop manufacturer ATR (a 50/50 Joint Venture between Leonardoand Airbus Group). For Europe‘s aeronautical industry there‘s a clear andurgent need to invest in developing new technologies in order to recover globalleadership.

The integration of innovative and affordable technologies in futureaircraft platforms is a key success factor for manufacturers as it increasesthe appeal and customer benefits, providing a better inflight experience forpassengers. Furthermore, airlines derive significant economic advantages fromoperating modern aircraft which are more efficient, eco-friendly, easier andcost-efficient to manage and maintain, saving money through the reduction ofoperating costs.

New and improved technologies positively impact all these elements,contributing to a reduction in operating costs through lower fuel burn, reducedmaintenance costs, reduced navigation and airport fees as a result ofstructural weight savings due to innovative aircraft configurations and the useof lighter materials.

All these benefits and economic advantages will be even more evidentfor regional turboprop aircraft that are typically less expensive to operatethan regional jets. Technological enhancements also appeal to passengers whocan enjoy a better inflight experience thanks to improved comfort and lowercabin noise levels, and this means less noise in and around airports too.

Clearly, investment in developing new technologies represents afundamental differentiator for everyone in the aviation industry.

Reginal aircraft will be a very good element to connect the airports inChina, especially in the northwest of China. I know it is a full system, it’sno harm to get started from one aspect.

Next week, we will dive in Oshkosh airventure 2019. See you then.