[hosepipe]

[ it could take years for China to train aviators and deck crew to safely and efficiently launch, recover and maintain carrier-based aircraft. ]

China collective could care less about safety..or the health of their seamen..
China is a communist givernment.. a collective, a HIVE...
They have lots of drones to man the carrier..

The author is confusing China with a western country..
The Chinese givernment OWNS the carrier AND the people that will man it..
So a few of them get chopped in half; SO WHAT?..
To China, carriers, air planes and people are all machines.. Expendable..

[Joe 6-pack]

Bingo...you captured my very thoughts. In the US military, one training fatality brings everything to a halt until a determination is made as to how it occurred and what steps need to be implemented to prevent it from happening again.

In the Chinese military, one training fatality results in another soldier being ordered to take the place of the deceased.

[RoadGumby]

While they may NOT care so much about the life of a pilot, the learning curve may well result in said pilot plowing into a critical structure (Island? Flight Deck, etc?) Material casualties are a lot harder to recover from than personnel.