Death of Chinese female J-10 pilot is 'a shock'

The death of Yu Xu, China’s first female J-10 fighter pilot, has sparked calls for longer training times, while classmates of the victim described her death as a shock.

Chinese female pilot Yu Xu. Photo: SCMP

Yu Xu, 30, died when the two-seater J-10 fighter jet she was piloting crashed in Hebei province. Her co-pilot managed to eject. Yu's classmate described her death as a shock.

Shanghai-based military analyst Ni Lexiong said there had been several accidents involving the J-10 but the causes were not made public. Ni said there should be fewer accidents but added that they were also the “price to pay” for modernizing the Chinese military.

There have been a series of accidents involving the J-10 over the past few years, most recently on September 28, when a plane crashed near Yangcun Air Base in Tianjin after hitting a bird. In May, a J-10 crashed in Taizhou, Zhejiang.

Last year, there were three J-10 crashes in Shenyang, Huzhou and Taizhou. In November 2014, a J-10B fighter crashed in the suburbs of Chengdu, injuring at least seven people on the ground.

Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the standards for joining the aerobatic squadron needed to be raised. China only requires about 1,000 hours of flight time to become a pilot, compared with 1,500 hours in developed countries.

"The morale of the acrobatic team will be affected. The team has not had an incident like this for a long time," Wong said.

"If such an accident happened during the Zhuhai air show, it would be a disaster because it could cause many casualties," he said. Nearly two weeks before his death, Yu had participated in the Zhuhai air show, piloting a J-10 to perform aerobatics.

Chinese female pilot Yu Xu. Photo: SCMP

'No regrets'

Yu, born in Chengdu, Sichuan, was one of 35 women recruited as pilot trainees in July 2005. Only 16 of them, including Yu, graduated four years later and became China’s first female fighter pilots. Yu is also one of four Chinese female pilots who can fly third-generation fighter jets.

Along with a group of 15 female pilots, Yu appeared at CCTV's Spring Festival Gala in 2010, months after first performing at the October 2009 military parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

She was nicknamed "golden peacock" because she performed a peacock dance at the air force school in 2005.

According to CNR, Yu said she never regretted becoming a pilot. "Sometimes I'm jealous of people my age, but that's just a temporary feeling. I chose a different path for life, a different career, and a different goal to pursue. I don't regret choosing to be a pilot," Yu once said. She also dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

According to VNE