Mystery surrounds small plane that flew into Beijing’s tallest building

© picture alliance/dpa | Johannes Neudecker

Last Friday, a small plane crashed into the CITIC Tower, Beijing’s tallest skyscraper. The pilot was killed, and 13 people were injured. Several days later, the cause remains unclear.

China has published only a very brief official report, while images and discussions about the crash were quickly removed from Chinese social media.

The incident is particularly sensitive because it occurred in one of the most heavily guarded areas of Beijing, not far from Zhongnanhai, where the Chinese Communist Party’s headquarters are located and where China’s top leaders live and work under tight security. Analysts say that the fact that a small aircraft was able to get so close to the political center is both a major security lapse and a political embarrassment.

“The fact that a small aircraft—which is considerably larger than most drones—was able to fly over a large part of the city and get quite close to Zhongnanhai is both politically embarrassing and a serious security breach,” Raymond Kuo, vice president for research at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told the BBC.

Speculation about the crash

The crash also led to speculation about whether the pilot simply made a mistake, whether the plane had a mechanical problem, or whether the flight might have been intentional. Airlines in China are said to have been ordered to suspend flights with light aircraft, but they have refused to explain which authority issued the order or what exactly lies behind the suspension.

The crash into the CITIC Tower is reminiscent of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when two planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, or Mathias Rust’s 1987 flight to Red Square in Moscow, which exposed major shortcomings in the Sovietair defense. Beijing recently tightened its regulations on drones, which makes the violation by a manned aircraft all the more striking.

The tower itself is a well-known landmark in Beijing, and even photos and memes unrelated to it have been removed from Chinese platforms. This suggests that the Chinese government views the crash not only as a safety issue but also as something that could cast doubt on the official narratives of control and competence.

Picture: © picture alliance/dpa | Johannes Neudecker