Li Feng, 38, a PLAAF pilot with more than 2,000 hours of flight experience, recently performed a dead stick landing on a Chinese built J-10 fighter. Photo Credit: Retxham/WikimediaNovember 25, 2009, (Sawf News) - Li Feng, 38, a PLAAF pilot with more than 2,000 hours of flight experience, recently performed a dead stick landing on a Chinese built J-10 fighter.
After initially encountering engine trouble at 4.5km altitude, Feng lost power on his engine at 1,160 m, 6km from the runway. He also encountered smoke in the cockpit. He was asked to eject but chose to continue because he felt he had adequate control over the aircraft.
The incident occurred on March 7. Feng was awarded First-Class Merit Citation and a Meritorious Pilot gold medal last Thursday.
He was also given 200,000 yuan ($29,411) for his courage and composure, which allowed him to save the aircraft worth 200 million yuan.
A successful dead stick landing in a fighter is almost unheard of because it leads to hydraulic and electrical failures. Unlike civil aircraft, fighters aren't aerodynamically efficient and glide just a little better than shaped rocks.
The J-10 is a F-16 class aircraft with FBW which must have switched to backup battery power. The engine failure notwithstanding, other redundancies worked in the Chinese fighter.
An outright cash gift to the pilot is interesting. The IAF just awards medals. Depending on the state that you reside in, medals that involve courage and bravery could come with perks like free railway travel and priority allotment of plots and apartments.
Details of the incident are available here.
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