SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
To Beijing now, and a story we should tell you contains mentions of suicide. It has been just over a week since a small plane slammed into that city's tallest building. Chinese authorities have said it was a deliberate act, but there are huge questions still unanswered, as NPR's Jennifer Pak explains.
JENNIFER PAK, BYLINE: The two-seater plane smashed into the skyscraper last Friday during evening rush hour in Beijing's central business district.
(SOUNDBITE OF RUMBLING)
PAK: Hours later, when I went past by bike...
(Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: ...The police still had the building sealed off without saying why. Videos and photos of debris falling were scrubbed from Chinese social media. It took 22 hours before local authorities confirmed the plane had crashed and a few more days before officials ID'd the pilot only as 66-year-old Mr. Liu (ph), who authorities say suffered from anxiety, insomnia and had suicidal thoughts. These official statements weren't run by most Chinese state media, says David Bandurski of the China Media Project.
DAVID BANDURSKI: It looks to me like there probably was a central directive - no reporting.
PAK: This plane crash happened only a few miles from President Xi Jinping's compound in Zhongnanhai. Shane Tedjarati is the former president and CEO of Honeywell Global. He's also an avid aviator who has flown private planes in China. And for him, questions linger, like...
SHANE TEDJARATI: How easily this general aviation airplane penetrated one of the most restricted airspaces over the capital.
PAK: Because, he says, he's flown in more remote areas in China.
TEDJARATI: There's no military installations around, no major cities around. And the protocol is to fly within 3 1/2 miles of that airport and under 3,000 feet.
PAK: Beijing's airspace is even more tightly controlled. Small drones are banned. James Fallows is the author of "China Airborne," a book about how China controls its airspace.
JAMES FALLOWS: So the military controls much more of airspace in China than in the Western world, and especially over Beijing.
PAK: That military control has come against a push by Chinese officials to develop what it's called the low-altitude economy - things like drones and flying cars as new economic drivers. Now, some Chinese experts say the small plane crash incident may lead to stricter policies on the low-altitude economy. Already, some private flying clubs tell NPR their planes have been grounded until further notice. Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Beijing. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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