82 YEARS

That's the time between the launching of America's first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, and the first time planes landed and took off from a Chinese carrier.  In addition, the US ship & planes were homemade, unlike the Chinese:

Both the Liaoning carrier and the J-15 jet are heavily reliant on foreign technology. The carrier is the former Soviet navy’s unfinished Varyag, which was towed from Ukraine in 1998 without its engines, weaponry and navigation systems. The J-15 is based on Russia’s Sukhoi Su-33.