Flight Experience 9 – Diamond DA40-180
This is a post about my experiences flying a Diamond Star DA40-180 airplanes in China. I also talk about moving to different cities in China during my first year in the country.
My First Job in China
When I first moved to China back in 2007 I was hired to fly and teach pilot students in Diamond Star DA40-180 airplanes. They are single engine, four seat, airplanes used by many flight schools for pilot training. It had a 180 horsepower Lycoming gasoline engine. I had never flown this specific aircraft type at the time although I had close to 2000 hours flight experience in similar size airplanes.
Getting ready for my first Diamond Aircraft DA40 flight in Shijiazhuang Airport, China.
Diamond Star DA40
The major difference with the Diamond Star was that it was the first “glass cockpit” airplane I had a chance to fly. A glass cockpit airplane is basically an airplane that has electronic flight instrument displays instead of the traditional analog dials and gauges.
Garmin G1000 Avionics in Diamond Aircraft DA40.
Garmin G1000
The Diamond Star had a Garmin G1000 instrument panel consisting of two large LCD displays; the primary flight display (PFD) and the multi-function display (MFD). The PFD was used to display flight instruments such as airspeed, attitude, heading, etc, while the MFD showed a large moving map and different engine instruments.
Getting used to the G1000 didn’t take long although it was quite a change from the old instruments. It was also very beneficial to get used to a glass cockpit as it made the transition to jet airplanes easier for me later on.
Beijing PanAm International Aviation Academy
The flight school was called Beijing PanAm International Aviation Academy or just PanAm for short. Nothing do with Pan American airlines or similarly named flight schools in the USA. It was just a catchy name I suppose. Also no flight training was done in Beijing although the main office was located there.
Flying in Shijiazhuang Base
My first few hours in the DA40 I flew in Shijiazhuang airport which is located few hundred miles south east of Beijing. The PanAm main flight base was located there when I first arrived to China. I only got to fly the plane three times there. My introductory flight was with a Japanese flight instructor, then another two flights with an Israeli flight instructor. This was all just to train me in the plane so I could start teaching students to fly it.
That Yellow Fuel..
When I first got to fly the airplane I took a fuel sample to check that there is no water in the fuel. I was kind of paranoid about checking the fuel those days based on what had happened less than two months earlier when I almost crashed a plane in Florida (see my Flight Experience 3 – The Day I Almost Died post if you don’t know what I’m talking about).
Somehow the fuel sample didn’t seem right… and the conversation was something like this:
– Hey… can you take a look at this.. it’s yellow!?! Avgas is supposed to be blue.. Right?
– Yes, it’s yellow. It’s normal. We use yellow fuel here.
– Ok, but that just doesn’t seem right.
– Well, it is certified for the plane. But you will notice the engines coughing because of it.. especially in the summer.
Moving to Baotou – Inner Mongolia
The school was going through some changes at the time and the main flight base was about to be moved to the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. All the flight instructors were told to move to Baotou while the school made all the moving arrangements for us.
In Baotou I did one more checkout flight with another Israeli instructor before I was handed four Chinese students. I had already been three months in China before I started flying with students. Luckily I was on a fixed monthly salary instead of flight hour based pay like most flight instructors around the world.
At the Air Traffic Control tower in Baotou Airport.
Diamond Star DA40 Airplanes at Baotou Airport.
Moving again to Wuhai – Inner Mongolia
I ended up staying in Baotou only for about a month because the flight school was opening another base in a small town called Wuhai. Because I was one of the new guys in PanAm and I hadn’t really established my roots to Baotou I got transferred to this new base. Wuhai was about a three hour train ride from Baotou, and still located in Inner Mongolia.
The school sent seven or eight flight instructors and a bunch of students to Wuhai to establish the base. It was actually a great experience being sent there. Wuhai is my wife’s hometown and that is where I met her! Also I got promoted to be the Assistant Chief Flight Instructor of the Wuhai base; making me the boss of flight operations there. The Chief Flight Instructor of the school was based in Baotou.
It was a good move in the end but kind of tiring at the time. In less than a year I had moved from Texas to Florida to Finland to Shijizhuang to Baotou to Wuhai. I was hoping to stay a bit longer in each place but luckily I ended up staying in Wuhai for nearly two years.
Flight Instructing in China
Low Flight Hours
In my two years of working for Beijing PanAm I only flew about 600 hours in the Diamond Aircraft DA40-180 airplanes. That is not very much considering I could have flown the same amount of hours working as a flight instructor in Florida for example.
Military Delays
Our flight school experienced many delays due to different reasons. Probably the main problem causing delays was the Chinese military and air traffic control. I never saw a single military plane flying while I was in Wuhai but still we were not allowed to fly whenever the military was practicing somewhere hundred miles away.
ATC Delays
The air traffic control in turn wouldn’t let us fly about 30 minutes before an arriving airline flight; unless we stayed in a training area about 20 miles away. But no flying near the airport in case of a collision… safe for sure but kind of extreme and inefficient.
Cross Country Delays
It was particularly difficult for us to get clearances for cross country flights between Baotou and Wuhai. I am not exactly sure what was the problem but since there were zero other traffic between the airports, but somehow the military and the air traffic control wouldn’t let us fly. I had students waiting for months or even a year just to finish their private pilot cross countries. Something that can be done in a week in other countries.
Sunset at the Wuhai Airport.
Lack of Fuel Delays
Another major delay for us was the lack of aviation gasoline. Jet fuel was available in every airport, but regular avgas was not so easy to come by. There was only one refinery producing this type of fuel in China. The refinery was located thousands of miles away in Sichuan province. The fuel was in short supply and there were times when the delivery trucks were delayed for once reason or another. During those times we were grounded due to the lack of fuel, and it was my job to decide who got to use the last drops of remaining fuel. Particularly I remember a time when there was a huge earthquake in Sichuan province and we couldn’t get more fuel for weeks.
Gobi Desert outside Wuhai Airport in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
Mountains near Wuhai Airport in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
Flying around Wuhai
All the delays were of course not good for the school, but they didn’t bother me too much. It made no difference to my salary whether we flew or not. But when we did fly, it was very enjoyable! The scenery around Wuhai was beautiful! That is if you like the look of desert and sand dunes mostly. The airport was located just next to the three thousand mile long Yellow River. On the other side of the river was the edge of Gobi Desert.
We had certain flight training areas around the city. Most of the training was done over the desert. It was interesting to observe camels walking in the desert without any people nearby.
There were flat areas where we simulated landings in case of an engine failure. It was unlikely to get a cell phone signal in the middle of nowhere; so in case we had to land in the desert I think we had two options:
- Catch a wild camel and ride home!
- Build a new airplane like they did in Flight of the Phoenix
movie!
Okay, okay! I’m just kidding! We were not flying that far over the desert and we were in constant contact with the airport control tower. Also there were almost always other of our company airplanes flying around. If we had to make an emergency landing we could most likely notify the ATC or other airplanes what were going to do and then we would just wait for help by the airplane. Even if we didn’t have time to make an emergency call our company would know in which training area we went missing and they would come find us.
Wild camels in the Gobi Desert. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
Ruins of an old building in the Gobi Desert near Wuhai Airport. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.
While Flight of the Phoenix 
Wuhai
The city of Wuhai has changed quite a lot since I first went there over ten years ago. I enjoyed living and working in Wuhai. I even had my wedding in Wuhai. The photos in this post are just from the desert and the airport, but that’s not all Wuhai has to offer. They city is actually quite modern city with western restaurants, shopping centers, and green parks.
I have many stories to share from Wuhai and I will share them in my future posts!
I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!
~FunkyPilot Vesa
I enjoy reading your article very much, thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for reading!
Nihao! I found your website. Great souvenirs!
Thanks Alain! It’s good you found it. Been working on this for sometime now 🙂