A total of 10 female pilots recruited by China's army recently completed their first solo flights, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN shared on Facebook on Sep. 20, 2020.

The post said without revealing too many details:

China's first 10 female army pilots have recently completed their first solo flights. Graduating from high school in 2017, these 10 ladies were the first female pilots the army recruited and will finish their training in 2021. ✈️

The post was accompanied by six stylised photos of the women posing for the cameras:

China always had female pilots for the air force

While the CGTN post made it sound as if this is the first time female pilots are being recruited in China, the practice has been going on for decades.

The only difference between this batch is that they are part of the army's pilots.

Previously, the Chinese air force enrolled its first female pilots in 1951, and about 580 female aviators in 10 generations have joined since then, China Daily reported.

However, the first seven generations of female pilots only flew transport planes.

Only from the eighth generation were some selected to operate fighter jets.

Young women recruited to fly

Not specifically mentioned were the ages of the women, except indicating that they had graduated high school in 2017.

In China, the senior high school education usually starts at age 16 and ends at age 18.

Assuming the female pilots started training at age 18 in 2017 after leaving high school, they would be about 21 years old now.

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All photos via CGTN