Captain Yu Xu, one of China's first female fighter pilots, died in a flight training accident on Saturday in Hebei Province.
The 30-year-old Yu, a member of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) August 1 Air Demonstration Team, was conducting aerobatic training with a male pilot before they were seen ejecting from their J-10 fighter jet for an unknown reason, China Daily reported on Monday citing witnesses and military sources. The male pilot parachuted to safety, but Yu hit the wing of another J-10 and died.
The PLA air force declined to disclose details regarding the incident.
Yu, a native of Chongzhou, Sichuan province, joined the military in 2005 as a cadet at the PLA Air Force Aviation University. She graduated in 2009, becoming one of the first 16 Chinese women pilots capable of flying fighter jets. Previously, all of the Chinese air force's female fliers were piloting transport aircraft.
Yu made her public debut at the National Day parade on Oct. 1, 2009, as she flew a JL-8 trainer jet above Tiananmen Square as part of a demonstration. In July 2012, she became the first woman to fly the J-10 fighter jet and was one of the four women qualified to fly the third-generation aircraft.
Senior Colonel Shen Jinke, spokesman for the PLA air force, said all of PLA's airmen deeply mourned Yu's death, while the air force will continue to faithfully fulfill its mission.
The tragedy also rippled across Chinese social media websites. By late Sunday, nearly 60 million users of the microblogging site Sina Weibo expressed their grief after reading the news, according to China Daily.
In WeChat Moments, a mobile app similar to Twitter, many users recalled how Yu, who is popularly known in China under the nickname Golden Peafowl, inspired them to chase their dreams.