HK Express Airways (HK Express) and The International Aviation Academy (HKIAA) proudly announced the recruitment of 11 graduates from HKIAA’s first intake of Cadet Pilot Programme as HK Express’s Second Officers. It is also the first airline to employ cadet pilots from HKIAA. An epaulette presentation ceremony was held on the 19th of November to celebrate this milestone event of pilot training in Hong Kong.
The milestone partnership between HK Express and HKIAA will help nurture the next generation of high-quality airline pilots and shape the future of aviation in Hong Kong
Jeanette Mao, CEO of HK Express, said that one of the company's key missions is to nurture local aviation talent and contribute to the city’s long-term growth as an international aviation hub, based on its role as Hong Kong’s only low-cost carrier. HK Express is proud to welcome these cadet graduates to the company and looks forward to watching them take flight – both literally and in their careers. The milestone partnership with HKIAA will help to deepen the mutual collaboration of the two sides and reinforce each other's shared belief in creating opportunities for passionate young people to pursue their flying ambitions. By cultivating local pilot talent, HK Express is also supporting its ongoing route and fleet expansion, as well as its broader people development strategy, and building the foundation for a stronger, more sustainable aviation future for Hong Kong.
Simon Li, President of HKIAA, noted that the academy is committed to nurturing and empowering aviation enthusiasts to drive the sustainable development of the aviation industry in Hong Kong and across the region. HKIAA launched the first Cadet Pilot Programme two years ago to provide aspiring talents with the opportunity to pursue their dreams of becoming civil pilots. He was quite proud to celebrate the success of the graduates as they took on the role of Second Officer at Hong Kong Express. He greatly values the shared commitment with Hong Kong Express and believes their partnership will help nurture the next generation of high-quality airline pilots and shape the future of aviation.
This initiative builds on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between HKIAA and its partnering airlines, including HK Express, in September 2023, which provides cadets with preliminary interviews and subsequent interviews for Second Officer positions for the graduates. Since the launch, the HKIAA Cadet Pilot Programme has successfully completed eight intakes, helping to shape the next generation of Hong Kong pilots.
HKIAA provides students from the Cadet Pilot Programme with the opportunity to undergo flight training in Chengdu, China, or in California, USA. Recently, an A320 flight simulator was introduced to facilitate realistic training scenarios, enhance safety protocols, and prepare students for the demands of modern aviation. The new facility also enables students to complete the multi-crew cooperation course, a mandatory requirement before obtaining a commercial pilot license issued by the Civil Aviation Department.
HK Express CEO Jeanette Mao (front row, third from left), HKIAA President Simon Li (front row, third from right), HK Express Training General Manager Captain Andy Chow (front row, second from left), and HKIAA Flight Training and Engineering Director Jack Ip (front row, second from right) and the eight newly appointed HK Express Second Officers
The temporary rules imposed after last year's collision of an airliner and an Army helicopter to improve the safety of the crowded airspace around Washington D.C. are being made permanent, the government announced Thursday.
The Federal Aviation Administration took steps to make sure that helicopters and airplanes would no longer share the same airspace around Reagan National Airport shortly after the investigation into the Jan. 29 crash began. The rules also prohibit air traffic controllers from relying on visual separation and require all military aircraft to broadcast their locations.
The National Transportation Safety Board plans to hold a hearing next Tuesday to detail everything that contributed to the deadliest plane crash on American soil since 2001.
“After that horrific night in January, this administration made a promise to do whatever it takes to secure the skies over our nation’s capital and ensure such a tragedy would never happen again. Today’s announcement reaffirms that commitment,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
The families of the 67 people who died after an Army Black Hawk helicopter struck an American Airlines jet that was preparing to land hope Duffy and Congress will act on the recommendations NTSB is expected to make next week to help prevent a similar tragedy from ever happening again.
Matt Collins, who lost his younger brother Chris in the disaster, said he and many of the other families plan to keep going to Washington so often that lawmakers will get sick of seeing them until changes are made.
“I hope to have some hearings done in the Senate and Congress, and I hope results come out of these hearings that they have,” said Collins who lives in Dighton, Massachusetts. “I hope we’re not just placated and it falls off into the background until another big news story comes up.”
The FAA said the new final rule will take effect on Friday. It will continue to require military aircraft to broadcast their locations using their ADS-B Out systems, which was routinely not done before the crash. And air traffic controllers are not allowed to rely on pilots to ensure visual separation between aircraft within five miles (eight kilometers) of Reagan airport.
The NTSB has said that the Black Hawk helicopter in the crash was flying 78 feet (24 meters) higher than the 200-foot (61-meter) limit on the route and likely had a faulty altimeter. But even if the helicopter had been adhering to that limit, the NTSB has said the route design didn't provide nearly enough separation to ensure safety.
Air traffic controllers had warned the FAA years beforehand about the dangers of all the helicopters around the nation's capital, and the agency failed to recognize an alarming pattern of 85 near misses in the three years before the crash.
Collins said he still flies often for work and pleasure, but his parents haven't boarded a plane since the crash.
“I still think flying is probably the safest mode of transportation, but I think it could be a heck of a lot safer,” he said.
Many of the people who died on the flight were young figure skaters and their parents and coaches who had just attended a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, after the U.S. figure skating championships were held there.
FILE - A crane offloads a piece of wreckage from a salvage vessel onto a flatbed truck, near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
Materials Engineer Adrienne Lamm, uses an optical microscope to examine debris from inside the tail rotor blade of a helicopter, inside the Materials Laboratory of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), speaks with journalists during a tour of the NTSB's laboratories, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
