Chinese pilot dies on US training flight
By Yang Jian |
December 22, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A STUDENT pilot from a Shanghai-based airline died in the United States when a small training airplane crashed during an approach early on Tuesday.
Another student from an airline in southern China's Guangdong Province and an American flight instructor were injured.
Xie Chengjie, a student pilot with Juneyao Airlines, was dead when emergency officials found him inside the wreckage, said the US Aviation Academy in Denton, Texas, where the plane was registered.
The other pilot, Zhao Shuran, who worked for Shenzhen Airlines, walked away from the crash site with head and leg injuries and has been released from hospital, the airline told Shanghai Daily.
Michael Lin, an instructor with the academy, a flight school based at Denton Municipal Airport, was reported to be in serious condition.
The three were on a night training flight in a Cessna single-engined aircraft returning to the Denton airport when it crashed, Ryan Grelle, a Denton police spokesman, said. The cause of the accident was unclear.
Police said that for unknown reasons, the pilot aborted the landing and then crashed on approach to the airport. The US National Weather Service reported a foggy sky with visibility of 800 meters when the crash occurred, but it was not known where that played any role in the crash.
Walked from wreckage
Officials with the US Federal Aviation Administration asked police to search for the plane after they lost contact with it at around 1:30am, Grelle said.
Police first came across Zhao, who said he walked from the wreckage but could not say where the plane had crashed. Police found the wreckage about 1,200 meters away from the airport at 6am with the help of helicopters.
The academy issued a statement saying it was cooperating with investigators and had temporarily suspended training to allow time to inform the immediate families and other company members about the crash.
More than 100 student pilots are currently being trained at the academy. A full course includes training for private and business pilot licenses as well as aviation English. The course lasts for a year on average.
Due to limited flight training in China, many Chinese pilots train overseas after several years of domestic study, said Zhou Jisheng, a civil aviation researcher.
"The flight training has a certain risk because the students lack experience for emergencies in the air, while the planes usually have no escape systems," Zhou told Shanghai Daily.
Two Shanghai student pilots being trained at TransPac Aviation Academy, another US training facility, were killed in March when their aircraft crashed in Arizona. Last year at the same school, a Chinese student pilot died when her aircraft crashed.
Another student from an airline in southern China's Guangdong Province and an American flight instructor were injured.
Xie Chengjie, a student pilot with Juneyao Airlines, was dead when emergency officials found him inside the wreckage, said the US Aviation Academy in Denton, Texas, where the plane was registered.
The other pilot, Zhao Shuran, who worked for Shenzhen Airlines, walked away from the crash site with head and leg injuries and has been released from hospital, the airline told Shanghai Daily.
Michael Lin, an instructor with the academy, a flight school based at Denton Municipal Airport, was reported to be in serious condition.
The three were on a night training flight in a Cessna single-engined aircraft returning to the Denton airport when it crashed, Ryan Grelle, a Denton police spokesman, said. The cause of the accident was unclear.
Police said that for unknown reasons, the pilot aborted the landing and then crashed on approach to the airport. The US National Weather Service reported a foggy sky with visibility of 800 meters when the crash occurred, but it was not known where that played any role in the crash.
Walked from wreckage
Officials with the US Federal Aviation Administration asked police to search for the plane after they lost contact with it at around 1:30am, Grelle said.
Police first came across Zhao, who said he walked from the wreckage but could not say where the plane had crashed. Police found the wreckage about 1,200 meters away from the airport at 6am with the help of helicopters.
The academy issued a statement saying it was cooperating with investigators and had temporarily suspended training to allow time to inform the immediate families and other company members about the crash.
More than 100 student pilots are currently being trained at the academy. A full course includes training for private and business pilot licenses as well as aviation English. The course lasts for a year on average.
Due to limited flight training in China, many Chinese pilots train overseas after several years of domestic study, said Zhou Jisheng, a civil aviation researcher.
"The flight training has a certain risk because the students lack experience for emergencies in the air, while the planes usually have no escape systems," Zhou told Shanghai Daily.
Two Shanghai student pilots being trained at TransPac Aviation Academy, another US training facility, were killed in March when their aircraft crashed in Arizona. Last year at the same school, a Chinese student pilot died when her aircraft crashed.
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