Li Jianying (; May 1964 – November 4, 2006) was a
People's Liberation Army Air Force pilot.
[
][
] Li chose to sacrifice himself in a
crash landing rather than bail out and leave his plane to possibly plow into a village.
Li was born in
Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...
,
Henan in 1964. He was known for his toughness and
work ethic. He joined the army in 1982, and was a
colonel and first-class pilot before his death. During his 22-year flying career, Li flew 5,003 times registering 2,389 hours of safe flights, and was awarded third- and second-class honors.
On November 14, 2006, Li Jianying was flying over an area containing seven villages, 814 households, an express toll station and a tile workshop when his fighter jet ran into a flock of
pigeons. His jet had over 800 liters of aviation oil, more than 120 shells, a rocket, and explosive
oxygen cylinders
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
. Li knew that if he ejected, the jet would go out of control and possibly kill people. He radioed in that he was going to attempt a forced landing. He tried to set down on a
river bank
Riverbank or river bank may refer to:
*Bank (geography), the bank of a river
Places
*Riverbank, California
*Riverbank, former name of Bryte, California
Enterprises and organizations
*Riverbank Academy, a special school in Coventry, England
* Ri ...
, but his jet exploded on impact and he was killed.
He was posthumously awarded a first-class merit and a gold medal for pilots, the highest honor for a pilot. In 2008, he was tied for first place in ''
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
s "China's 10 Most Moving People of 2007" award.
[
]
References
External links
英雄李剑英--飞翔日记字字铁汉柔情
1964 births
2006 deaths
People's Liberation Army Air Force personnel
People from Zhengzhou
{{Death-stub