Chinese fighter jet crashes down on houses killing one and injuring two ‘in training accident’ – with pilot parachuting to safety
- Chengdu J-7 jet crashed in city of Xiangyang, Hubei province, on Thursday
- Pilot ejected to safety, but jet fell on to houses below and burst into flames
- One person on the ground was killed, and another two were injured
- Crash happened shortly after Soviet-era jet took off on a training mission
One person has been killed and another two injured after a Chinese fighter jet crash landed on to houses shortly after taking off on a training mission on Thursday.
The jet, a Chengdu J-7 which is based on a 1960s Soviet design, plunged into a residential area of Xiangyang city close to a military airport.
The pilot, who was taking part in a training mission, managed to parachute to safety as his plane smashed into houses and burst into flames – killing one person.
Two more people were injured and taken to hospital alongside the pilot, who also sustained injuries. Chinese state media reports did not make their condition clear.
Video from the scene showed flames burning at a city intersection as stunned onlookers gathered.
One person on the ground has been killed and another two badly wounded after a Chinese jet on a training mission crashed into the city of Xiangyangon on Thursday
The jet – a Chengdu J-7 – had just taken off from a nearby airbase when the pilot was forced to parachute out as it dropped from the sky on to a residential area
State media did not give a cause for the crash, which is under investigation.
Such reports from China are unusual, with Beijing typically keen to cover up military accidents or to praise the ‘heroic’ role of the pilot in avoiding deaths.
The J-7 is an older model, single-engine aircraft with its origins in the Soviet MiG-21 dating from the 1950s and was produced for almost 50 years until 2013.
Large numbers remain in service, however, to provide regional air protection. China also sold an export version, the F-7, to more than a dozen countries, many of which have since retired the planes.
China’s civil aviation industry has come under scrutiny in recent months following the still-unexplained crash of a China Eastern Airlines passenger jet on March 21 in which all 132 people on board were killed.
And on May 12, a Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was leaving the southwestern city of Chongqing when it veered off the runway and caught fire. No-one was killed, but several passengers were injured.
Australia and Canada have recently raised concerns about reckless flying by Chinese fighter pilots.
In a statement on June 1, the Canadian military said Chinese planes tried to divert a Canadian long-range patrol aircraft from its path, and that the crew had to change direction quickly to avoid a collision.
Australia said a Chinese fighter jet on May 26 committed a dangerous act of aggression against an Australian air force plane conducting aerial surveillance in the South China Sea.
The Chinese J-16 accelerated and cut in front of the Australian plane, releasing chaff with small bits of aluminium designed to confuse radars that was sucked into the latter’s engine, Australian defence minister Richard Marles said.
China has defended the actions of its pilots and blamed foreign countries for conducting close surveillance of its territory to contain Chinese development.
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