A Deadly Accident Won’t Ground China’s Women Fighter Pilots

Sebastien Roblin

Security, Asia

Capt. Yu Xu was one of the first combat pilots in a long history of women in Chinese military aviation.

On the morning of Nov. 12, J-10 fighters from China’s prestigious Ba Yi Air Demonstration Team practiced maneuvers over Yutian county, northeast of the city of Tianjin.

Sitting in the instructor’s seat of one of the delta-wing J-10s was Capt. Yu Xu, a flight leader and one of four women pilots trained to operate the domestically-designed multi-role fighter. The 30-year-old native of Chongzhou, Sichuan province, had earned the nickname “Golden Peacock” after a traditional dance she had performed while a cadet.

Around 9:45 a.m., observers on the ground reported seeing two aircraft collide. Yu and her co-pilot Li ejected. Their stricken J-10 plunged into a farming field near the village of Dangyupan, Hebei province, leaving a crater 10 meters wide in its wake. Li parachuted to the surface and was treated for minor injuries to the arm and leg.

Yu was killed when her parachute struck the wing of the other J-10. Searchers found the engines and black box of her plane, and her remains sometime later. Her ashes were recently prepared for interment in her hometown.

The tragic accident caused an outpouring of national grief for the pioneering pilot. The air force officially declared Yu a national martyr.

Inevitably, observers in China and abroad have questioned whether the accident reflected deficiencies in the J-10, pilot training or even in the choice to deploy women fighter pilots in the first place. Beijing’s habit of remaining cagey about the causes of military accidents has intensified the speculation.

However, it is not even clear whether Yu was controlling the two-seater J-10 at the time of the accident.

Yu was not the first Chinese female military pilot, either, nor the only one qualified to fly fighter planes, including the J-10. In fact, the history of Chinese women in military aviation dates back more than 60 years — and spans several countries.

Arguably, the first female Chinese military flyer was Hazel Ying Lee — or Li Yueying — a Chinese-American aviator born in Portland, Oregon who received her pilot’s license in 1932.