The U.S. Aviation Academy is cooperating with related authorities to investigate a deadly plane crash that killed a China Southern Airlines trainee pilot.
Justin Sykes, Assistant CFO at the U.S. Aviation Academy told the Global Times on Wednesday that the academy is also conducting its own internal investigation.
The cadet and an instructor were training aboard the twin-engine propeller aircraft when it crashed, leaving both dead, China Southern Airlines revealed in a statement Tuesday on its official Weibo account.
U.S. media said they were 22-year-old Yu Qiu, who was pronounced dead at the scene and 25-year-old Francesca Norris of Dallas, who was taken to hospital where she died late Sunday evening.
The academy has suspended training for all Chinese cadets after the accident and has provided psychological assistance to all of them, according to the airline.
The airline said it has sent condolences to the cadet's family and would assist their travels to the U.S. In its statement, the airline said it will closely monitor the investigation.
According to its website, the U.S. Aviation Academy began operations in 2003, with the main campus and corporate headquarters located at the Denton Enterprise Airport.
In early June the academy posted that it was welcoming 26 new students from China Southern Airlines. The flight school has simulator approvals from the China Civil Aviation Authority.
Most of the aircraft at the academy were manufactured in the 1960s or 1970s and in the event of an accident the cabin door of the plane was located 1 meter behind the cadet's seat, making escape difficult, a Chinese pilot at the U.S. Aviation Academy told the Guangzhou-based Nandu Daily on condition of anonymity.
Before the deadly accident, the plane suffered malfunctions including a left engine failure on landing, according to the anonymous cadet. All the malfunctions posed a serious safety threat, the pilot said, according to Nandu Daily.
When asked to comment on the alleged malfunctions of the plane, Sykes said that this was not the time for speculation about this tragedy, as it was not fair or appropriate to comment until the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and local authorities have concluded their investigation and release their findings.
But training procedures of the academy must meet the standards set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration and China Civil Aviation Authority for both ground curriculum and flight instruction, Sykes said.
Sunday's death was not the first at the academy. In April, a Chinese cadet was found dead in the Denton campus dormitory.
Other students who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that the U.S. academy instructors discriminated against Chinese students, reported cover.cn.
In response to concerns of discrimination, Sykes said that for the past 13 years the academy has worked alongside the world's largest airlines and trained over 2,000 international pilots.
"We have grown from instructing 30 Chinese students per year to over 340 Chinese students a year across our campuses," Sykes said.
The academy has two more campuses at North Texas Regional Airport near Dallas and Alliance Airport of Fort Worth, Texas.
