The company was formally founded on Dec 12, 2012, and Men was able to attract 15 of his former team members to his new company with share-incentive options. Now the company enjoys a highly qualified staff of 38 employees.

On Dec 27 last year, the company's first unmanned aircraft for civil uses was purchased by a Beijing-based company.

The aircraft weighs 38 kilograms and is both 3 meters long and wide. Fully fueled with 14 liters of gasoline, it can keep flying for five hours at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour and at a height of 2,000 meters.

"It's not the final success for which we have longed for years. We've just got the dream a pair of wings," Yao says.

He says that the company is now one of the three top Chinese private firms engaged in R&D and manufacturing of civil unmanned aircraft, which have a broad scope of applications including surveying and mapping, agriculture, transportation and disaster response.

A new factory, which covers an area of 36,000 square meters with a total investment of 150 million yuan ($24.69 million), will soon be completed and put into use in 2014.

The company plans to invest 1.5 to 2 billion yuan through cooperation with the local government to build a general aviation airport in Huaibei city. An aviation club and a general aviation service firm are also in planning stages.

"As aviation authorities are expected to loosen their grip on low-altitude airspaces as early as this March, we feel more confident about the future development of our company," Yao says.