Chapter 66 65. Qiu Guanghua——The Loyal Mission of the Life Route

Qiu Guanghua (1957-2008), male, Qiang nationality, native of Mao County, Sichuan Province, member of the Communist Party of China. He joined the army in 1974 and was a special pilot of the deputy division of the 77116 unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Qiu Guanghua is the first generation of minority pilots in our army.With the lofty sentiments of loyalty to the party and love for the people, he has always faithfully fulfilled his mission and tasks without fear of hardships and sacrifices.He has flown 6 types of aircraft successively, accumulatively flying more than 5,800 hours, and has performed urgent and dangerous missions such as border patrols and emergency rescue and disaster relief for many times. Military Helicopter Flight Records.Piloting a helicopter to open up the Qinghai-Tibet route filled a gap in the history of world aviation. In May 1987, when he was flying a plane to deliver relief supplies to Medog, known as the "Valley of Black Death", he encountered a strong air current unexpectedly. Under his steady control, the helicopter made an emergency landing at an altitude of more than 4,200 meters. Yamaguchi, he was seriously injured.After recovering from his injury, he set foot on the Medog route again. After the "5.12" Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, he took the initiative to fight, regardless of the age at which he would be grounded in a few months and the serious disaster at home. He risked his life again and again to fly to Wenchuan and other hard-hit areas. On May 31, 2008, the plane encountered low clouds, thick fog and strong air flow and unfortunately crashed during flight. Qiu Guanghua died gloriously. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded first-class merit by the Central Military Commission, and has won second- and third-class merit six times.

After the 5.12 earthquake, Qiu Guanghua, who was about to be grounded for age, took the initiative to find the leader of the regiment and asked to go to the front line of disaster relief. Five days later, he learned that his house was destroyed and his parents, who were nearly 80 years old, lived in a shack.Since the day of the earthquake, Qiu Guanghua has flown to Mao County six times to perform missions, flying over his hometown each time.When transporting the wounded one time, the landing point was less than 800 meters away from his home. While waiting for take-off, he still did not leave the plane to go home.

In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief, Qiu Guanghua has been carrying out rescue missions with the earthquake relief force of the Chengdu Military Region. Qiu Guanghua's home is in Mao County, very close to Wenchuan, the epicenter. He said, "The straight-line distance is only 50 to 60 kilometers." There are many relatives at home, including parents and two younger brothers.After the earthquake, communication was interrupted, and he couldn't know the situation at home, so he had to stay in front of the TV, hoping to get news from his hometown.On the second day after the earthquake, Qiu Guanghua was ordered to go to Beichuan, Mianzhu and Dujiangyan to investigate the disaster.Without much thought, 10 minutes later, he led the crew to take off.On this day, he still didn't get any news about his hometown and relatives.Qiu Guanghua said: "This is a natural disaster. There is no other way. I can only worry. I can't help my family. I can only rely on the local government. All I can do is disaster relief."

On the 14th, Qiu Guanghua was ordered to go to his hometown of Maowen to investigate the disaster.When he flew over Mawen, his hometown was devastated.He thought: It's over, my family is all over, people must be buried below.After landing, he saw his younger brother who brought people to report the disaster to the troops.The younger brother told him that the house at home had collapsed, but luckily his parents and relatives were all alive.Qiu Guanghua finally felt relieved. It was already the third day after the earthquake. The homes of the pilots of the Army Aviation Corps are very close to the airport, less than 1 kilometer away.But since the earthquake on the 12th, none of them have returned home, and all their meals and lodging are in the tents of the army.

Qiu Guanghua said that this disaster relief was like a war for the Army Aviation Corps.During normal training, it takes an hour to prepare before each takeoff.This time, the shortest time from getting the task book to take-off was 5 minutes, and the longest time was 10 minutes.The crew often set off only knowing the flight altitude, and then observe the weather and terrain conditions by themselves after going to the sky. This time, most of the disaster areas are distributed in the mountains, and he even said a few words "very bad" to describe the local weather and terrain conditions.He said that the airflow in the canyon is a disturbed airflow, that is, the airflow is unstable and the wind is chaotic.Such air currents can damage the aerodynamic structure of the helicopter.Once encountering this kind of airflow, the aircraft is prone to accidents.And if the propeller of the helicopter hangs on the wires in the valley, it will definitely be destroyed.But when the helicopter took off, the pilot did not have any relevant information.What is the airflow in the canyon, where are the wires, whether it can land, where to land, etc. All issues can only be observed by the crew with their eyes, without any auxiliary facilities.He said that every time the flight crew is highly concentrated, they will use the aircraft performance and operating technology to the limit under the extreme conditions of weather and terrain.

Under the circumstances of complex and changeable weather and poor communication, Qiu Guanghua risked his life and frequently carried out flight missions in Wenchuan, Beichuan, Maoxian and other hard-hit areas. people, transferred 234 people affected by the disaster, and made outstanding contributions to the earthquake relief. On May 31, 2008, Qiu Guanghua led the crew to carry out the task of transporting the injured. Due to the instantaneous change of the local climate in the mountains and valleys, the sudden encounter with low clouds and heavy fog, and the collision of strong air currents into the mountains, he was killed together with the crew members and died in the line of duty.