This is the first recruitment of women trainees in China's civil aviation history, and the school will impose high requirements on the candidates, said Luo, director of the school's recruitment department.

"Since the four women pilots will be image representatives of China's civil aviation industry, our requirements will be strict, even stricter than those for male pilots" he said.

The recruitment will target females in Sichuan Province in the southwest of China. The application deadline is March 14.

According to Luo, the candidates must be between 168 cm and 175 cm tall, and weigh above 45 kilograms. They must also be healthy. Candidates with respiratory, kidney or speech problems will be disqualified.

Candidates will undergo three rounds of tests and two physical examinations before the final selection is made. The lucky recruits will go through four-years of flight school training. If they are assigned to civil flights after graduation, their yearly salary will reach 10,000 yuan (US$12,092), on a par with male pilots.

They will teach in flight school before beginning service as pilots, Luo said. Air companies that hire them will have to hand over a transfer fee of about one million yuan, which is the cost of their training, he added.

The People's Republic has trained 343 women pilots since its foundation in 1949, all of them for military aircraft.

(eastday.com January 17, 2003)