China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, recently made its first sea voyage after it entered service. According to a series of photos showing flight training on the ship widely circulated online, the Liaoning now has conditions for aircraft to take off and land. China's first-generation carrier-based fighter jets have conducted simulated landing exercises, particularly touch-and-go exercises many times in recent sea trials. Several Chinese military experts all consider touch-and-go exercises to be an important part of landing exercises on the aircraft carrier.
A Chinese naval expert said that touch-and-go exercises can improve landing accuracy, and enable pilots to experience the feeling of landing on the aircraft carrier so as to break their psychological barriers. Chinese pilots have no experience in landing on the aircraft carrier, and must practice hard to gradually master the technique. If they can land accurately and stably during exercises, they will be more likely to land successfully on the aircraft carrier on real missions.
Another Chinese military expert who is familiar with the operation of carrier-based aircraft said that landing exercises for carrier-based aircraft mainly involve three stages. The first stage is simulated training on land, the second stage is tough-and-go exercises, and the third stage is actual landing on the aircraft carrier.
The expert stressed that even if the landing training for carrier-based aircraft was completed, the aircraft carrier was still far from obtaining strong fighting strength. The combat strength of an aircraft carrier requires fine coordination and cooperation among seven or eight ground service groups. As the difficulty of flight training on the aircraft carrier increases, oilers, missile loaders, lift operators, hangar managers, and aircraft coordinators will gradually participate in the training.
