The wind is blowing gently, perfect weather for flying. The sun is gleaming off the surface of a long white runway, which disappears into the clear blue horizon. It is a fine day in early May, ideal for flying small planes around this small airfield in Yanqing County, about 70 kilometers northwest of the center of Beijing.

Less than three years ago, business at the Badaling Airfield was robust. The busiest days saw small aircraft taking off and landing from dawn to dusk, according to Pan Jichun, a senior engineer with Jinggong (Beijing) General Aviation Company Limited, which developed the airfield in the late 1990s and has operated it until now.

Today, the runway is idle. The 12,000-square-meter tarmac lot at its southern end -- enough for 70 to 80 small planes -- is empty as well.

This has to do with a large tower that is being built on the east side of the runway by a research institute affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which has also installed 100 large mirrors for solar energy experiments. The mirrors reflect the sun's rays, filling the sky with blinding beams of light.

"The dazzling beams are a great danger to airplanes flying over our airfield," Pan says.

The Badaling Airfield is the only privately-funded facility in Beijing dedicated to general aviation (GA). It is now unsuitable for use.

China's aviation sector is strictly controlled. Last year in October, the country's central air traffic authority issued a document concerning the use of the country's low-altitude airspace (LAA).

The document was issued by the State Air Traffic Control Commission (SATCC), China's highest military-based authority on air traffic affairs. It stipulated that airspace less than 1,000 meters above ground would be broken into three categories: control areas, surveillance areas, and free-flight areas.

Free-flight areas may be used by anyone as long as their flight plans are reported to the relevant air traffic authority in advance.

The move was welcomed by China's small but fast-growing tribe of flying enthusiasts and private owners of small airplanes.

There is reason for the country's private airplane owners to be please. In the past, each and every flight had to be approved by the authorities well in advance. Approval procedures were complicated, waiting times were long and approval didn't always come.

This led to an increase in the number of illegal flights, a few instances of which were reported in the media. Those who didn't want to take the risk of being caught flying illegally had to keep their planes locked up.

However, according to the SATCC document, GA flyers no longer need to get prior approval to fly in the third LAA category, and the required flight plan reporting can be done on short notice. However, the actual areas covered by the three LAA categories have still not been specified, and SATCC officers say that the specification will not be finished any time soon.

The cities of Changchun, Guangzhou and Xi'an are the only ones whose airspace has been divided and specified by the SATCC. A visual flight map showing the three LAA areas above Xi'an is nearly complete, according to the SATCC.

SATCC Deputy Director-General Liu Gang said that work on the other two cities, as well as flight maps for five other unspecified regions, will be completed this year. Flight maps with LAA divisions for every city in the country should be ready by 2015, according to Liu.

The initial fanfare triggered by the release of the SATCC document has died out. Some GA enthusiasts now say the 1,000 meters of airspace specified in the document will not be high enough.

"Flying too low will be impossible because of strong airflow. I normally fly between 1,800 and 2,000 meters above ground," Pan says.

Liu, however, says that the changes will simply take time. He dislikes the use of "opening up," saying that the country's airspace has never actually been closed to general aviation. "'Loosening' might be a more appropriate wording," he says.

"You want freedom to fly. However, others have the right to live safely," he says. Liu adds that GA enthusiasts should have more patience and should not derail the changes with illegal flights that could disrupt normal air traffic.

Liu says the objectives of the changes are to improve the use of LAA resources and create an orderly and safe aviation control mechanism. The government is eager to foster the growth of GA-oriented companies, which are occasionally asked to help the government with emergency rescue operations or to meet transportation needs in areas where public transportation is lacking, according to Liu.

He says that a government-sponsored GA pilot project involving helicopters is being promoted in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China.

Zhu Shicai, an SATCC office secretary, says an official website for reporting flight plans will be launched some time this year. "Pilots who wish to apply and report their flight plans online will find it to be very convenient and efficient," he says.

The term "general aviation" refers to flights that are undertaken for the purposes of dispensing pesticides and fertilizers, taking aerial pictures or helping with emergency rescue operations. Sightseeing flights and private travel are also included in the definition.

Most GA aircraft are small airplanes or helicopters. Zhang Peng, an SATCC section chief and a veteran military pilot, says the 1,000-meter airspace specified in the SATCC document should be adequate for flying small planes.

The easing of LAA control is the first step towards creating a thriving GA industry. However, there is a long list of other issues that must be taken into consideration: airfields, fuel, flight monitoring services, and pilot training must also be readily available.

Investors, manufacturers and sales agents predicted that the GA industry would take just two or three years to truly take flight. However, China's GA market still has a long way to go. China had only 997 GA aircraft by the end of 2009, while the United States had around 200,000.

Badaling Airfield is a prime example of where improvements need to take place in China's GA industry. The field is currently unfit to be used, as the construction of a large tower near the runway's east side is preventing planes from using it.

Although the construction of the tower is a violation of aviation regulations, the airfield's protests to the local government failed to stop the construction from taking place. Due to a formal land lease contract ratified more than a decade ago, the local government is not in the position to force the flying club to relocate.

Badaling Airfield could have filed a lawsuit against the developers if it was legally considered to be a proper "airfield." Although it has all the necessary equipment, the field is considered by the SATCC to be a "temporary strip for airplanes to take off and land."

China currently has 329 registered GA airstrips just like Badaling, Pan says. The number of actual GA airfields is just 69.

However, Pan believes the Badaling Airfield is one of the best spots in the country to practice general aviation. He says that he often gets calls enquiring about memberships for the airfields, but he always has to give callers disappointing answers.

The winds of change are blowing, but their impact is yet to be felt. Pan says he's still optimistic about the future, but Badaling Airfield may have much longer to wait.