Chinese pilot dies on US training flight

A STUDENT pilot from a Shanghai-based airline died in the United States when a small training airplane crashed during an approach early on Tuesday.

Another student from an airline in southern China's Guangdong Province and an American flight instructor were injured.

Xie Chengjie, a student pilot with Juneyao Airlines, was dead when emergency officials found him inside the wreckage, said the US Aviation Academy in Denton, Texas, where the plane was registered.

The other pilot, Zhao Shuran, who worked for Shenzhen Airlines, walked away from the crash site with head and leg injuries and has been released from hospital, the airline told Shanghai Daily.

Michael Lin, an instructor with the academy, a flight school based at Denton Municipal Airport, was reported to be in serious condition.

The three were on a night training flight in a Cessna single-engined aircraft returning to the Denton airport when it crashed, Ryan Grelle, a Denton police spokesman, said. The cause of the accident was unclear.

Police said that for unknown reasons, the pilot aborted the landing and then crashed on approach to the airport. The US National Weather Service reported a foggy sky with visibility of 800 meters when the crash occurred, but it was not known where that played any role in the crash.