PLA makes rare revelation about Chinese pilot’s death during training over South China Sea

[BoQ77]

PLA makes rare revelation about Chinese pilot’s death during training over South China Sea
PUBLISHED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 10:26pm
UPDATED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 10:29pm
Andrea Chen andrea.chen@scmp.com

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Fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army take to the skies. Photo: SCMP Photos


The People’s Liberation Army has made a rare revelation about the death of a naval air force pilot in a training session over the South China Sea.

The pilot, Tang Xiaofeng, died after his fighter jet plunged into the sea during a low-latitude attack training session, the PLA Daily’s official news website said.

Tang served the same marine corps that lost another pilot, Wang Wei, when his jet and a US surveillance plane collided in 2001, news site 81.cn said.

Tang’s death was the first time Chinese official media was publicly acknowledging the death of a marine pilot in a sea crash during training. But the report did not give details of the time, place and reasons for the crash.

The incident came under media spotlight after 81.cn on Thursday published a feature on Hainan navy base pilot Zhang Wei, in which he recalled the death of his team leader Tang.

“Our team leader never returned after the training session He fell into the sea with his jet in order to accomplish a high-quality attack training,” Zhang was quoted as saying.

“What impressed me most was that the other pilots who witnessed the plunge carried on with the attack training at the scene of the crash.”

Zhang said his corps was equipped with comparatively outdated planes. Photos published on the site showed that they had since started using the more advanced J-11 jets for training.

Chinese authorities have long avoided public mention of fatal crashes during military training, unless the jets fell to the ground or were spotted by residents.

In May 2013, the defence ministry confirmed the sea crash of a North Sea Fleet floatplane but made no mention of casualties.

One of the few reported navy pilot deaths was Wang Wei’s. Wang’s J-8 II fighter jet plummeted into the sea after a mid-air collision with a US surveillance plane south of Hainan in 2001. He was declared dead after a search-and-rescue team failed to find him after several days.

 

[Gufi]

sad news

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

RIP.

 

[Steakhouse]

Jet crashed not out of extraordinary, anything go up must come down either by crash or safe landing.

 

[notsuperstitious]

May the departed attain Moksha!

The Chinese do mention some crashes from time to time to maintain a semblance of credibility.

 

[BoQ77]

Ability to fight at sea is not the strong point of Soviet Union, Russia, China AF... but the USA.

And indeed it's a very hard job.

 

[BoQ77]

Hope the pilot who made the inadvertent disclosure is not put in a labour camp.

We want to know more about 2 cases of J-15 lost when training with Liaoning CV-16.

 

[Aepsilons]

Rest in peace to the brave soldiers !

 

[JSCh]

This is link to the original ariticle from 81.cn, in Chinese of course.
为了那片海，为了那片天 - 中国军网

It is part of a news series about military life of ordinary soldier. This one interview a pilot.that talk about his team leader named Tang Xiaofeng handed him an exam paper to do and to check when Tang come back from exercise. But Tang never came back.

Tang’s death was the first time Chinese official media was publicly acknowledging the death of a marine pilot in a sea crash during training. But the report did not give details of the time, place and reasons for the crash.

Well, if the reporter from SCMP bother to search the name of Tang Xiaofeng, he would have discover this link to the official website of Tongzhou District Government.

逝世人物


It is the 2008 list of notable citizens from Tongzhou that has passed away. Tang Xiaofeng name appeared with a description of his life and how he die.

汤小锋（1974.2-2007.5），平潮镇人，1996年5月加入中国共产党，大学本科文化程度。原任中国人民解放军91685部队飞行一大队大队长、二级飞行员、少校军衔。
2007年5月31日，汤小锋在担任长机，率僚机执行课题训练任务中，不幸坠海，壮烈牺牲。
汤小锋热爱飞行事业，时刻不忘党和人民的重托，以强烈的使命感、责任感，刻苦学习，努力钻研新装备，积极研究新战法，飞行技术精湛，先后参加并圆满完成多项重大演习任务，为歼八型飞机形成战斗力作出重要贡献，先后荣立三等功2次，多次受嘉奖。同年6月2日，中国人民解放军总政治部批准汤小锋为革命烈士。​

Google Translate:
Tang Xiaofeng (1974.2-2007.5), Pingchao town, in May 1996 joined the Chinese Communist Party, college educated. 91,685 People's Liberation Army troops formerly flying a battalion, two pilots, the rank of Major.
May 31, 2007, Tang Xiaofeng served as the lead plane, the rate of implementation of the subject wingman training mission, crashed into the sea, unfortunately, heroic sacrifice.
Tang Xiaofeng loves flying career, always keep in mind the great trust of the Party and the people, with a strong sense of mission, responsibility, study hard, study hard new equipment, active research tactics, flight technical skills, he has participated in and successfully completed a number of major exercises task for the formation of combat aircraft Jian make an important contribution, has won three twice, many times by the awards. 2 June of the same year, the PLA General Political Department approval Tang Xiaofeng as a revolutionary martyr.​

 

[BoQ77]

could you find for us who died in 2 cases of J-15 lost ? and how their aircrafts lost ?

 

[JSCh]

could you find for us who died in 2 cases of J-15 lost ? and how their aircrafts lost ?

There were never 2 cases of J-15 lost.

The two test pilot that was lost was flying JH-7 years ago. The rumor of 2 x J-15 lost is just a misunderstanding. It get so bad that Chinese state media actually bother to make a public clarification. I believe it is explained in related thread in PDF, if you bother to search and read through it.