Chinese President Xi Jinping has honoured a veteran naval test pilot with a first-class merit award for defence science and technology.
The pilot, Yang Yong, who had previously been awarded seven second- and third-class merit awards, has been testing planes launched from the country’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian.
Yang featured in a documentary that aired this week on state broadcaster CCTV and described a life-threatening incident in which his plane lost pressure at an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) following a leak in the cabin.
“If the aircraft does not descend, the cabin pressure will completely dissipate. If the pilot becomes incapacitated, the aircraft will lose control and [the situation will] become uncontrollable,” Yang said.
But he was not able to make an immediate descent because a civilian flight path lay directly below him, forcing him to maintain his course for 13 minutes before he could land.
“My physical sensations were getting worse, but unless instructed otherwise, we had to maintain our current altitude,” he said. “As I descended, my physical sensations gradually returned, including my hearing.”