The Quiet Sky — A Reporter's Conversation with J-16 Female Pilot Tian Jing
Our interview subject ran off — it was a first for us too.
The suddenly vanishing interview subject made us realize
that the sky above our heads
is not, in fact, quiet at all.
Her name is Tian Jing.
She is among the first cohort of female J-16 pilots in our country.
You may not know her,
but you have certainly seen her fly.
At the parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan,
the first fighter jet to fly over Tiananmen —
the rear-seat pilot was Tian Jing.
Born in 1994, she is a Sichuan girl,
fiery in personality and even fonder of spicy food.
Above ten thousand li of cloud and sky,
"distorted" (畸变) time
and boundless space
give Tian Jing a vast freedom.
Her youth, her passion, and her very life
are destined to surge for the blue skies of the motherland.
At the Air Force Aviation University,
the first lesson she learned
was how to become a soldier —
and only then, how to become a pilot.
Grounded in the primary mission of preparing for and winning wars (备战打仗主责主业),
she gradually grew into a combat fighter (战斗员).
When an unexpected aerial situation arose,
she said:
"You raise troops for a thousand days to use them in a single moment.
Today is the day I have been waiting for."
In order to transition to the J-16
and blaze a trail for girls who want to become pilots,
Tian Jing and her comrades signed a military pledge (军令状).
Passing through dense cloud with extremely low visibility,
she and the front-seat pilot flew over Tiananmen in the J-16
with not a meter or a second's deviation.
"Every pilot wants to fly the best, most advanced aircraft."
"I want to tell our predecessors: today, our aircraft no longer need to fly the route twice."
Closing the canopy,
ranging freely across the sky,
Tian Jing thought of a kite.
"One end of the string is me and my fighter jet;
the other end is held by the motherland and the people.
No matter how far I fly, I can follow that string back home."
Sun rises, moon sets.
Clouds gather, clouds drift.
Tian Jing and her comrades
stand guard over this quiet sky.
Producer: Liu Gang
Coordinators: Gao Yujiao, Wang Xuefeng, Wang Zhe, Xu Shuhang, Sun Haoxin
Directors: Liu Yi, Huang Yichen
Camera: Wang Cheng, Wang Hao, Lü Yongzhe, Qiu Yujie
Post-production: Duan Xinhai, Han Qiyang