China said to restrict small aircraft after Beijing tower crash
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Beijing’s CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, was damaged on June 26 in an accident involving a small plane.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BEIJING – Aviation firms in China said they have suspended light aircraft operations following a small plane crashing into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper last week.
People who answered the phones at Hebei Zhiyuan Airlines and Jianxin General Aviation, which provide pilot training services, said all of their flying services are grounded, citing the June 26 accident in Beijing.
The people at the two companies, both with bases in northern China, did not give their names.
An employee at Zhiyuan Airlines said the temporary prohibition applied nationwide.
No official announcement has been published. The Civil Aviation Administration of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours. The restrictions were first reported by the Financial Times.
The collision at the 109-storey CITIC Tower killed the solo pilot and injured 13 others, raising questions about flight regulations in the Chinese capital’s airspace.
The incident, in Beijing’s main central business district, took place just kilometres away from the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party and residences of top leaders.
On Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, an aviation hobbyist based in Chengdu claimed in a video posted June 27 that his plans to fly a light aircraft similar to the one involved in the crash were on hold after recreational flights were grounded, but did not say who ordered it.
An employee at Eastern Frontier General Aviation, which runs the pilot training school where the ill-fated light-sport aircraft took off, declined to comment on the accident in Beijing.
The city typically maintains tight airspace controls covering all low-altitude aircraft, including small drones, with all flights subject to official approval.
The crash triggered a sell-off among companies with ties to the nation’s emerging low-altitude aviation sector on June 29 amid fears of reprisals in the form of a regulatory crackdown on the industry. BLOOMBERG
