The first woman to fly China’s J-10 fighter jet was killed in a crash during an aerobatics training exercise, state-run media reported yesterday.
Yu Xu (余旭), 30, a member of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force’s “August 1st” aerobatic display team, ejected from her aircraft during a training exercise in Hebei Province over the weekend, the China Daily newspaper said.
She hit the wing of another jet and was killed, although her male copilot ejected safely and survived, it said.
Photo: AFP
“As one of only four female pilots in the country capable of flying domestically made fighter jets, her death comes as a tremendous loss to the Chinese air force,” the Global Times newspaper said.
Yu, from Chongzhou, Sichuan Province, joined the air force in 2005, reports said.
She graduated from training four years later, one of the first 16 Chinese female pilots qualified to fly fighter jets, and in July 2012 was the first woman to fly the J-10, the China Daily said.
Fans dubbed her the “golden peafowl,” it added.
Yu was seen as a trailblazer in a country that enshrines women’s rights, but where traditional values are still widespread.
Users on a Chinese microblog posted pictures of candles in her memory, with thousands mourning her death.
“We praise her not as an individual, but for the spirit she transmitted to us, becoming the ideal vehicle for everyone’s hopes,” one user wrote.
Others raised questions about the crash.
“Rather than stirring up emotion, the most important thing is to investigate why this accident occurred, was it a problem with the design problem in the fighter, or in the rules of operation, or in inadequate training,” another netizen wrote. “Only by ascertaining the causes can we ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Yu rose to become a flight squadron leader and, according to the Global Times, dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
She was one of two female members of the August 1st team — named for the date of the founding of the PLA — pictured at China’s premier air show in Zhuhai two years ago.
The pair strode to their fighter jets in lock-step with male pilots, all wearing identical green jumpsuits and sunglasses.
At the time, the China Daily quoted Wang Yanan (王亞男), deputy editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, as saying: “Female pilots have learned to fly cutting-edge fighter jets in the Chinese air force.”
“It means the air force has diversified its pilot pool and can recruit more female pilots,” Wang added.
Yu appeared again at this year’s show earlier this month, according to reports.
The Xinhua news agency quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke (申進科) as saying that all its personnel were “deeply regretful and mournful” at her “unfortunate death.”
The J-10 is a workhorse of the Chinese air force. Two of the fighters conducted what the Pentagon called an “unsafe” intercept of a US surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea in June.
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