Pilot 'missing' after air show crash
By Wang Qingchu |
October 15, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A PILOT is missing, presumed dead, after a Chinese fighter-bomber crashed at an air show in northeast China yesterday.
Footage aired by China Central Television showed the jet sputtering and then nose-diving into a field about 100 kilometers northeast of Xi'an City.
One of the two pilots ejected from the cockpit and deployed his parachute. But only one parachute was seen opening, and the plane, a two-seater JH-7 "Flying Leopard" jet, burst into flames as it crashed.
The surviving pilot suffered only minor injuries, but his comrade appeared to have been trapped, Xinhua news agency said, citing eyewitnesses and He Liang, a member of the organization committee. No one on the ground was hurt as the plane crashed into a swamp more than 2 kilometers from the nearest onlookers at Neifu Airport in Pucheng County.
The jet had just taken part in a performance at the air show as part of the China International General Aviation Convention held in Xi'an. The fighter-bomber crashed at 10:47am as it was heading back to base, He said.
He said an emergency team was at the scene to conduct a search and rescue operation for the second pilot. The survivor, who is believed to have suffered only minor injuries, is in hospital.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft had gone into a nosedive from about 500 meters. A massive explosion was heard and huge plumes of black smoke rose into the air, Xinhua said.
After the crash, the air show continued and other events for the convention will go on as planned, said Jin Qiansheng, an official with the Yanliang National Aviation Hi-tech Industrial Base in Xi'an.
Nearly 100 airplanes are on display and 30 aircraft from home and abroad were due to perform at the air show, which ends tomorrow and was expected to draw more than 150,000 spectators.
On July 19, 2009, two pilots were killed when a JH-7 crashed as it was flying over the Taonan tactical training base in northeast China's Jilin Province to take part in a Sino-Russia joint anti-terror drill.
The JH-7 fighter-bomber is a two-seater, twin-engine aircraft in service with PLA Navy and PLA Air Force and was designed in the 1970s by the Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corp and Xi'an Aircraft Institute primarily for anti-ship missile strike missions.
An improved version, the JH-7A, was introduced in early 2000.
The aircraft features a number of advanced technologies which were the first seen on Chinese-developed combat aircraft.
It can carry anti-ship missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles in maritime strike operations or general-purpose bombs.
Footage aired by China Central Television showed the jet sputtering and then nose-diving into a field about 100 kilometers northeast of Xi'an City.
One of the two pilots ejected from the cockpit and deployed his parachute. But only one parachute was seen opening, and the plane, a two-seater JH-7 "Flying Leopard" jet, burst into flames as it crashed.
The surviving pilot suffered only minor injuries, but his comrade appeared to have been trapped, Xinhua news agency said, citing eyewitnesses and He Liang, a member of the organization committee. No one on the ground was hurt as the plane crashed into a swamp more than 2 kilometers from the nearest onlookers at Neifu Airport in Pucheng County.
The jet had just taken part in a performance at the air show as part of the China International General Aviation Convention held in Xi'an. The fighter-bomber crashed at 10:47am as it was heading back to base, He said.
He said an emergency team was at the scene to conduct a search and rescue operation for the second pilot. The survivor, who is believed to have suffered only minor injuries, is in hospital.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft had gone into a nosedive from about 500 meters. A massive explosion was heard and huge plumes of black smoke rose into the air, Xinhua said.
After the crash, the air show continued and other events for the convention will go on as planned, said Jin Qiansheng, an official with the Yanliang National Aviation Hi-tech Industrial Base in Xi'an.
Nearly 100 airplanes are on display and 30 aircraft from home and abroad were due to perform at the air show, which ends tomorrow and was expected to draw more than 150,000 spectators.
On July 19, 2009, two pilots were killed when a JH-7 crashed as it was flying over the Taonan tactical training base in northeast China's Jilin Province to take part in a Sino-Russia joint anti-terror drill.
The JH-7 fighter-bomber is a two-seater, twin-engine aircraft in service with PLA Navy and PLA Air Force and was designed in the 1970s by the Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corp and Xi'an Aircraft Institute primarily for anti-ship missile strike missions.
An improved version, the JH-7A, was introduced in early 2000.
The aircraft features a number of advanced technologies which were the first seen on Chinese-developed combat aircraft.
It can carry anti-ship missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles in maritime strike operations or general-purpose bombs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
