Fighter Jet Crashes During Chinese Airshow Performance

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 10-15-2011, 02:59 PM

PUCHENG, Shaanxi, Oct. 14 An aircraft plummeted to the ground Friday morning during an air show held for the 2011 China International General Aviation Convention in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

One pilot, who witnesses said suffered minor injuries, survived as he was ejected and parachuted out before the fighter jet fell at 10:47 a.m. after finishing its performance, while another pilot remained missing, said He Liang, a member of the convention's executive committee, at a press conference held Friday afternoon.

Witnesses said the other pilot had been trapped in the jet, which nosedived and crashed to the ground near Neifu Airport in Pucheng County, where the air show was held.

Heavy smoke billowed around the Neifu Airport, about 100 km northeast to the provincial capital of Xi'an, after the accident occurred.

An emergency team rushed to the scene to conduct a search and rescue operation for the second pilot, whose condition remains unknown.

No casualties on the ground, a salt marsh near Donglou Village, Pucheng, have been reported.

An air show commentator said before the performance that the fighter jet FBC-1, also known as a Flying Leopard, was manufactured by the Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corp.

The air show continued until 12:30 p.m.

The three-day air show that opened on Friday is part of the 2011 China International General Aviation Convention being held in Xi'an.

Other events for the convention will go on as planned, said Jin Qiansheng, an official with the Yanliang National Aviation Hi-tech Industrial Base in Xi'an.