PLA Air Force stop recruiting pilots from civilian college grads

The Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has stopped accepting graduates from civil colleges as it started recruiting 2014 pilot trainees among graduates of high schools and military academies.

The PLA Air Force bureau in charge of recruiting pilot trainees said on Wednesday that eligible candidates should be aged 19 years or younger for high school graduates, and 24 years or younger for graduates from military schools.

For those high school graduates who want to become PLA pilot trainees, they must be between 165 to 185 cm tall and weigh above 50 kg.

All the applicants are required to be male.

In 2014, the PLA Air Force will continue its cooperation with civil universities in recruiting "dual-school-roll" students who will be enrolled and trained by two different higher education institutions, including a military academy and a non-military one.

The PLA Air Force has about 398,000 officers, servicemen and servicewomen, according to the white paper on national defense released in April this year.