Over 1,000 people were watching Tang Feiji fly his ultralight helicopter when there was a sudden crash, causing the aircraft to burst into flames and kill the pilot
An influencer has died after the ultralight helicopter he was flying crashed. However, in a horrifying twist, he had been livestreaming his flight and thousands of people watched as he was engulfed in flames.
Tang Feiji was an up-and-coming star in the aviation industry, and had taken to livestreaming his activities for his followers. The 55-year-old had been flying around the countryside of Jiange province in China on Saturday (September 27) when the accident occurred.
He had been broadcasting to just over 1,000 people when the aircraft he was operating — a twin-rotor ultralight helicopter — suddenly began to nosedive. Viewers watched on in horror as Tang desperately tried to stabilise the aircraft, but nothing could be done and the vehicle slammed into the ground, creating a huge fireball.
Trying to get any kind of help, viewers flooded the livestream chat with messages reading “save him”, as well as “call the emergency services!” After ambulances and police rushed to the scene, the influencer was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sun reported that moments before the fatal crash, Tang had momentarily landed the aircraft safely in order to fix the angle on the camera before getting back in and lifting off again. Viewers remarked that the star had not been wearing a helmet or a parachute when the crash took place.
As a result of the crash, Tang’s livestreaming account has been put on private, and only those who had followed him before can still access the streams he had uploaded to the platform. Since the incident, several police agencies are now working together to investigate the influencer’s tragic death.
It was not the first time that Tang had a brush with death. Throughout his career, Tang escaped two separate crashes that had been caused by technical issues, including a broken fuel gauge.
Thanks to the success of his career, he was able to buy the aircraft for the equivalent of around £36,500. Despite claims he needed a pilot’s license to operate the aircraft, Tang had dismissed the allegations, saying it was not required to fly ultralight machines.
Tang was not the only pilot to suffer a fatal incident in the air on Saturday. A skydiving instructor died following a plane crash in Australia on the same day. Paul Smith had been flying back to Moryua Airport in New South Wales when he lost control of the plane and it crashed into bushland.
Smith had been at the helm of the plane helping eight skydivers jump out, before he entered a “death spiral”, nosediving and spinning out of control. It was later revealed that 54-year-old pilot Smith had only been 1.2 miles from the airport when the plane went down, tragically killing him.
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