Aug.6,2018--Chenre Yeshe, 21, is one of nine children from a herder's family in Damshung county in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Her new job as a helicopter pilot makes her hometown proud.

 

"Once I flew a helicopter back to Damshung county, and my fellow villagers said I was like a fairy flying in the blue sky, and that I was the pride of Damshung," she said.

 

Chenre Yeshe is the first female pilot at Lhasa Snow Eagle General Aviation, a joint venture founded by the Lhasa government and Ruoer General Aviation Development Group - better known as Ruohang - which is based in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

 

Snow Eagle started with four helicopters in April. The company plans to build its fleet in Tibet to 32 helicopters for tourism, emergency aid and environmental patrols, and the number is expected to reach up to 200 in the long term.

 

Its helicopters have made 4,000 trips over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and Ruohang Chairman Lyu Yong said he expects they will make a total of 30,000 trips this year.

 

The company recruited 28 students in the first batch, including 16 women from vocational schools and universities. All are from poor families. The candidates were trained in Suzhou, Jiangsu, about 4,000 kilometers from Lhasa.