Henri K take on the accident show good wing man and good coordination between ground controller,pilot, wing man And of course excellent pilot with steel nerve, calm and collected saves the day. The missile is real. Interesting paragraph. Is the plane salvageable ? Seem so but the structure is weaken by the fire need to be replaced
Outside, the engine noises are heard, the plane in night-time training take off one after the other, the morning incident has hardly had any impact on the schedule of the day.
but are already considering the abandonment of the aircraft which costs nearly 400 million Yuan (~ 50M €) to the Chinese Navy
That morning, deputy captain YUAN Wei (袁伟) thought it was going to be a flying day like any other. After putting on his suit and making the full check-up on his
J-15 , the young 32-year-old greets the staff on the ground and prepares to take off together with his winger.
Since mid-July, part of the aircraft of the Chinese naval air regiment has been attached to an air force base in the north to train at the parade celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the " Chinese Army. YUAN and its D-15, registered 104, are included.
08h58, YUAN who has just left the ground suddenly sees a black cloud coming in front of his canopy, the cell then starts to vibrate as when the gun on board is shooting. He then hears a bang then the "Danger" light begins to flash. The synthetic voice "Left engine on fire" sounds repeatedly in the cockpit.
"I hit birds," YUAN announces on the radio, it's actually a group of pigeons.
Its J-15 is then within 100 meters of the ground, tanks full of kerosene and armed with two anti-ship missiles under the sail, all under a speed that did not exceed 400 km / h.
"I was sitting on a huge bomb," confesses the pilot to the reporters, "I felt a little helpless at that precise moment."
08h59, YUAN turns off the left engine and confirms the situation at the control tower. According to the protocol, he should have turned left and try to realign himself with the track, but there is a 200-meter high mountain to his left. He turns the sleeve to the right and tries to gain altitude.
09:00, his winger who witnessed the collision scene managed to avoid the group of pigeons, and put himself in the back to observe and give visual elements.
"What I was afraid of was seeing him disappear before my eyes," said AI Qun (艾 群), the J-15 winger's driver who has already seen another of his colleagues perished in a fatal accident in months of " April this year (see our file "
"), "because I could clearly see how important the fire was."
The onboard system, devoid of any feeling, gives new alerts at that time: "Angle of attack limit, load limit ...".
The aircraft, too heavy and sub-motorized with only one engine in operation, is beginning to lose altitude and also speed. The risk of dropping out is great.
"We know that post-combustion has to be put in order for the aircraft to return to altitude," says LU Zhao Hui (卢朝辉), commander of the control tower, "but we did not know the exact state of the right engine, knowing That the one on the left was always on fire. "
On the ground, the air traffic controllers are working on a solution that would bring back safely the pilot and his plane, but are already considering the abandonment of the aircraft which costs nearly 400 million Yuan (~ 50M €) to the Chinese Navy .
09h01, while everyone seems to be hesitant, the wingman AI Qun finally gives a pseudo good news: "No visible damage on the right engine, no fire or apparent smoke".
YUAN and AI are part of the same promotion at the Carrier Pilots Training Center, and both men are certified fit to land on the
Liaoning aircraft carrier in 2016.
"Checking the right engine temperature, and turning on the post-combustion", reassured by the condition of the aircraft, the control tower finally gives its green light. Air traffic controllers are also releasing a new flight plan that should allow the J-15 half on fire to return as quickly and safely as possible to the ground.
But seeing the highly populated area to the extension of this new trajectory proposed by the tower, YUAN asks to do differently.
09h04, the alarm "Left engine on fire" continues to resonate,
"The landing gear can not be lowered," the hydraulic system on the left side of J-15 has indeed been damaged, and this is not the only problem YUAN faces - its plane now weighs five tons more That the authorized landing mass and the fact that one of the engines is ignited also prevents it from evacuating the excess fuel.
09h05, AI Qun gives the second good news of the day: "White smoke in the left rear of the aircraft". YUAN knows that the left engine fire is temporarily under control, as the white smoke corresponds to the vaporization of the kerosene under the high speed. He decides to proceed with the landing, and pulls out the landing gear in emergency mode.
09h08, the overweight J-15 lands heavily on the track. For fear that the plane would tip over, YUAN pressed the bottom of the right petal.
The J-15 slipped out of the track during the rescue.
Rear right side of J-15, registered 104.
09h09, while YUAN is still inside the cockpit, AI Qun who passes above the base indicates that the left engine is recovering and asks YUAN to leave the aircraft as quickly as possible possible.
Without being able to wait for the arrival of the ladder, YUAN jumped from the cockpit to nearly three meters of the ground and falls back, before being rescued by the firemen come running.
"Are your asses going?" ", The man was of course entitled to some floodgates of his colleagues in the days to come.
But what YUAN remembers most about this incident is when the firefighters and ground personnel start to water the J-15 still on fire with water on one side and powder on the other, The cry of chief engineer CHENG Gang (程 刚) in the horn: "Do not aim the right engine, do not spoil my plane ...".
09h11, while a dozen personnel on the ground always tries to control the fire, the J-15, however the brake blocked, begins to slide towards the outside of the track. Two mechanics watered with a water cannon before climbing into the cockpit to lock the aircraft again, while others opened the hatches on the back of the aircraft to inject water directly into the engine left.
That same evening, the young pilot of J-15 returned to the quarters of the regiment and called his wife, as usual, but he preferred not to say anything.
A few days later, YUAN resumed the flight, but this time with a very special attention to the birds ...
Henri K.
