How do passengers feel when a plane crashes?

Dalian May 7th Air Crash. On the morning of May 8th, 2002, when Xu Liang arrived at the scene of the Dalian air crash, he saw countless human body fragments floating in the Yellow Sea. A child’s body was washed up on the beach, with only half of its head left. The sea breeze blew away the heart-wrenching cries of the victims’ families, and the air was filled with a burning stench. Xu Liang collapsed on the ground, and this hellish scene made him feel extremely guilty.

“If I had worked harder last night, perhaps these 122 people would not have died.”

1. Airport police

Some people, as policemen, would detain many brutal murderers; as a policeman, Xu Liang could only detain lighters.

As a police officer at Capital Airport, Xu Liang’s daily job is to stand in front of the security X-ray, watching countless suitcases slide by in a daze.

Ten years ago, Xu Liang graduated from the police academy with honors and originally planned to work in the Serious Crimes Division to realize his ideal of fighting violence and protecting the innocent. However, when he was choosing a unit, he had just gotten married and his new family was asking for money everywhere. Seeing that the salary and benefits at the airport were far better than those at other public security units, Xu Liang planned to work there for two years, and then plan to transfer to the Serious Crimes Division after his family’s finances were stable.

Although he temporarily gave up his ideals for money, the family’s subsequent financial situation was still difficult. After marriage, the daily necessities, social etiquette and other expenses made his monthly salary bottom out. Two years later, not only did he not dare to transfer, but when his child was born, he had to keep paying for milk powder.

Just like that, in order to earn an extra 200 yuan a month, Xu Liang was tied to the airport and worked there for ten years. The work was monotonous and repetitive every day, and the young man at the time was about to enter middle age. As for his ideal of eliminating violence and protecting the good, it had long been transported to a place where he would never see it again by these suitcases.

At 7:00 pm on May 7, 2002, more than 100 passengers flying from Beijing to Dalian were putting their suitcases on the conveyor belt. Xu Liang sat in front of the security check, feeling extremely depressed. There was less than 100 yuan in his passbook today. Before going to work, he had a big fight with his wife over the school selection fee for his child, and the bank urged him to pay the mortgage. He didn’t get a sense of accomplishment in this job, and now the pressure of life made him want to escape from it all.

Passenger security check was about to end. When a box appeared in the X-ray, Xu Liang came back to his senses. There was a water bottle in the box, but the X-ray could not see the liquid composition in the bottle. Xu Liang looked up and saw a middle-aged man picking up the box and looking at him.

In 2002, civil aviation allowed passengers to bring liquids on board. Xu Liang often saw water bottles in various suitcases, but this time, the state of the liquid in the bottle was slightly different from usual. Xu Liang had some doubts, stood up and hesitated for a moment, until the man turned and left, he did not say anything to stop him.

Xu Liang was not sloppy, and whenever he asked passengers to open their suitcases in front of him and found nothing, he would inevitably receive complaints. Moreover, such a minor difference made him really not want to start a dispute when he was in a bad mood.

“It’s better to have less trouble than more. Nothing will go wrong.”

Xu Liang sat back in front of the monitor and continued to daydream.

90 minutes later, several more passengers left. Xu Liang was guarding the X-ray machine, doing nothing to wait for time. Suddenly, the entire airport sounded an alarm and was sealed off. Passengers who were boarding the plane were rushed back to the hall. A ground staff ran up to Xu Liang, panting, and said hurriedly:

“The flight to Dalian just crashed into the sea!”

Xu Liang couldn’t believe it. After confirming the news again and again, he heard another person’s message, confirming that all 122 people on board had died! Xu Liang thought of the unusual bottle on the monitor and couldn’t help feeling scared.

“Could it be that thing that caused this…?”

2. Air crash site

After receiving the notice from the task force, Xu Liang rushed to the Dalian air crash site overnight with the security check video.

The beach in the early morning was chilly, and the sky was covered with dark clouds. In the 27-kilometer-wide sea area, more than a hundred rescue ships of all sizes were busy with salvage operations. The beach was filled with corpses, and the number was increasing as the salvage work continued.

The bodies were naked, with limbs and torsos scattered all over the ground, and almost no body was intact. Forensic doctors from various places gathered together, and a female forensic doctor who looked quite prestigious stood in the middle of them, constantly emphasizing the key points of the examination of the bodies of the plane crash victims.

The hellish scene before him made Xu Liang’s worries about the bottle even more intense.

He was eager to know the cause of the plane crash, but in the vast ocean, most of the wreckage had been submerged by the sea, and key evidence such as the black box was nowhere to be found. The difficulty of finding the truth was increasing every minute. So far, no one has a better way except to salvage it from the endless sea.

The police officer who was in charge of receiving Xu Liang was his classmate from the police academy. When Xu Liang asked what clues had been found, his classmate shook his head repeatedly:

“Don’t mention it, the case is still pending!”

“How suspenseful can it be?”

The classmate pointed at the charred bodies on the beach and said, “See? Among the victims found so far, one-third of them have varying degrees of burns!”

“burn?”

Xu Liang had taken a course on air crash rescue at work. After many plane crashes abroad, the leaked aviation fuel would cause burns to the victims. This is quite common in air crashes. Just as he was showing off his knowledge and using this theory to explain, his classmate sighed:

“The plane crashed directly into the sea, how could it catch fire…”

The cabin is made of flame-retardant materials, so the probability of fire is extremely low. When it crashed, it did not catch fire when it came into contact with water. So what on earth did these burned victims experience? Thinking of this, Xu Liang couldn’t help but feel a little creepy.

Xu Liang’s classmates took him to the dock, got into a Coast Guard boat, drove at full speed, and approached the area where rescue boats were concentrated. After breaking through the layers of fog, more than a dozen ships gradually appeared in Xu Liang’s field of vision. In addition to patrol boats and motorboats, three submarines were also moored here, ready to dive and search at any time.

When they arrived at a large boat of the Coast Guard Detachment, the classmate slowed down and stopped, then took Xu Liang on board.

On the deck were the newly salvaged pieces of aircraft wreckage. A middle-aged man with a serious expression and dark eye bags was squatting in the middle of the wreckage, studying something carefully. Next to him, a police officer was reading a report:

“Through the investigation of Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport, it was confirmed that the airport’s navigation and radar equipment were completely normal at the time of the accident; the captain of the crashed passenger plane was born in 1967 and had 11,000 hours of flying experience before the accident; the co-pilot was born in 1973 and had 3,300 hours of flying time. Both of them had valid driver’s licenses and medical examination certificates, and passed the routine medical examination before takeoff; as for the aircraft, the aircraft underwent a routine 5A maintenance from March 27 to April 2, 2002. In addition, by checking the relevant manifests and refueling orders, it was confirmed that the weight and loading of the aircraft were in compliance with the standards when it took off from Beijing Capital International Airport.”

After finishing reading, Ban Maosen looked up and saw Xu Liang, and asked directly:

“Are you the comrade in charge of security at the Capital Airport?”

Xu Liang nodded.

“My name is Ban Maosen, and I’m responsible for on-site investigation and trace identification.” The middle-aged man stood up, shook hands with Xu Liang, and then asked:

“Did you find anything unusual during the security check yesterday?”

Xu Liang thought of the strange bottle and was going to tell Ban Maosen everything. But then he remembered that X-rays could not tell the composition of the liquid in the bottle. If he did not tell anyone about the clues, he would not be held responsible. But if he told anyone, he would be held responsible for the accident because he did not stop it in time. At that time, not only would his ideal of fighting violence and protecting the good be shattered, but even his job to support his family would be difficult to keep.

Thinking of his wife, children, and the home he worked so hard to maintain, Xu Liang flatly denied it and even said that everything was normal during the security check.

The technician walked quickly from the cabin, holding a report sheet, and said to Ban Maosen:

“Professor Ban, the possibility of fire in the aircraft’s circuit, engine, oil circuit, and oven has now been ruled out!”

Ban Maosen took the report and said, “The cabin is made of flame-retardant materials. Even if there is a fire caused by these faults, it will not cause widespread burns to the human body. From this point of view, the cause of the fire can be identified as human.”

Ban Maosen asked Xu Liang for the security check video of last night. He sat in front of the computer in the cabin and picked out the images of the bottles in the suitcase one by one.

“You will stay in Dalian during this period of time. There are some tasks that require your cooperation in the investigation.” After Ban Maosen said this to Xu Liang, he returned to the wreckage of the plane and started studying on his own.

Xu Liang understood Ban Maosen’s intention in leaving him behind. Since the fire on the plane was caused by human factors, the murderer and the tools used in the crime must have left traces when passing through the security check channel.

As for the bottle he found, was it the cause of the fire? Xu Liang was extremely worried.

Remains and debris

After leaving the plane crash site, Xu Liang was arranged to stay in a hotel. The atmosphere in the whole hotel was gloomy, the waiters were dressed in dark clothes, and there was no smile on their faces as usual when they entertained guests.

The families of the victims were also placed here. They gathered in the hall, waiting for the official report of the accident. In the pain of losing their loved ones, some people were shouting and screaming, while others were silent and terribly quiet; only a few children were jumping and dancing, smiling and asking the caregivers for candy.

Every scene of grief kept piercing Xu Liang’s heart. He didn’t dare to tell Ban Maosen about the strange bottle; now, the pain of the victims’ families made him extremely guilty. His original ideal was to be a qualified policeman who could eliminate violence and protect the good; now, in order to protect his family’s life and this job he didn’t like, his ideal retreated again and again until it fell below the bottom line.

Xu Liang hurriedly hid in his room, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Recalling the youthful arrogance when he first entered the police academy, he felt more and more uncomfortable.

If I were the person I was back then, would I choose to escape like I do now?

Xu Liang kept encouraging himself. Instead of waiting for news, he might as well get involved. If it was really the bottle he missed that caused the plane fire, he should find the real culprit himself. Xu Liang was determined and called his classmates to apply for another meeting with Ban Maosen.

It was already midnight when I met Ban Maosen. At the Dalian Public Security Bureau’s Identification Center, Ban Maosen had just finished testing the seawater. When Xu Liang said he wanted to join the investigation, Ban Maosen waved his hands:

“I’m in charge of trace identification, which requires skill learning and practical accumulation. I’m afraid it’s difficult for you to help. But there will definitely be some physical evidence that you need to identify later. After all, as a security inspector, you are the only one who has seen what is in the passengers’ bags.”

“Even if it’s just running errands, I want to be more involved in the case!”

Facing Xu Liang’s request, Ban Maosen was a little confused: “Are there any relatives or friends of yours on this flight?”

Xu Liang wanted to reveal the bottle several times, but when he remembered that he had a family to support, he swallowed it back.

Although Ban Maosen knew that Xu Liang knew nothing about identification technology, he saw that the technical staff in the identification center were short of manpower and had to run around and submit reports to various processing teams. He also felt that the errands proposed by Xu Liang were what was needed at the moment.

“You just need to submit a report to the Capital Airport, and write the name of the seconded unit as the Ministry of Public Security’s Object Identification Center.”

Xu Liang thought he had lost his chance, but he suddenly had a sudden turn of events. He was so excited that he shook Ban Maosen’s hand and thanked him repeatedly. After briefly introducing himself to everyone, Xu Liang was dispatched, picked up a pile of materials, and rushed to various departments to deliver them. After working all night, the sky gradually brightened. Most people in the Material Identification Center could not stand the fatigue and fell asleep next to the microscope. Xu Liang resisted the sleepiness and sat on a chair at the door, waiting for the next call.

Ban Maosen sat quietly all night, still watching carefully under the microscope, and suddenly stood up and walked to an appraiser.

“Please examine the newly delivered debris carefully. I just found burnt gasoline inside…”

Some of the people who had not slept yet were bleary-eyed, but when they heard the word “gasoline”, they instantly perked up, quickly gathered under the microscope, and observed carefully for a long time.

“You guys continue working, I’m going to see the forensic doctor!” Ban Maosen picked up his coat and was about to leave when he saw Xu Liang at the door, his eyes widened.

“Um… young man, can you drive?” Ban Maosen was very tired and just wanted to fall in the car and take a nap.

Aircraft use aviation fuel, and common sense says that ordinary gasoline is absolutely impossible to appear on aircraft. Xu Liang knows the importance of this clue, but at the same time he is worried, is the strange bottle he saw filled with gasoline?

Soon, Xu Liang drove Ban Maosen to the Dalian Funeral Home. In the morgue, more than a hundred bodies were neatly arranged according to their numbers. The faces of the victims were completely destroyed, and the forensic doctors could only collect skin scraps and use DNA to determine their identities later. Ban Maosen looked anxious and found the female forensic doctor in charge and told her about the discovery of gasoline.

The female forensic doctor did not dare to neglect it. She gathered all the forensic doctors present and issued an order:

“Carefully examine the skin surface and tracheal residues of each corpse, paying special attention to the legs to see if there are any signs of explosion splashes; if any gasoline-like substance is extracted, immediately conduct physical and chemical tests to verify it!”

After receiving the order, the medical examiners dispersed immediately, holding knives and tweezers, and carried out extremely detailed inspections on each body. Soon, gasoline components were detected on five bodies with more serious burns.

Five bodies were pushed in front of Ban Maosen and Xu Liang.

“It seems that the murderer is among these five people.” Ban Maosen frowned and looked extremely serious.

Strange bottle

It was already noon when they left the funeral home, and Ban Maosen asked Xu Liang to drive straight to the hotel. Xu Liang yawned repeatedly, thinking that he could finally get some sleep, but he never expected that many Chinese and foreign media had already crowded at the hotel entrance, holding up the microphone and shoving it in his face.

When the press conference was held, all the reporters’ questions focused on the progress of the investigation. But no matter how the reporters asked, Ban Maosen never mentioned gasoline or the five bodies. Even though some foreign media deliberately led the cause of the accident into various conspiracy theories, Ban Maosen still just denied it without any explanation.

After the press conference, Xu Liang was full of doubts:

“Captain Ban, why can’t you explain the situation to the media?”

Ban Maosen took Xu Liang to a deserted place and asked in a low voice

“How many years have you worked in airport security?”

“ten years”

“With your ten years of experience, can you tell the difference between gasoline and water in an X-ray?”

Xu Liang shook his head guiltily.

“That’s it. If we rashly make the murderer’s methods public, a group of copycats will inevitably emerge. If someone else brings gasoline onto a plane, then the air crash problem that needs to be solved won’t just be in Dalian!”

Xu Liang understood Ban Maosen’s intentions, but the foreign media reporters who returned home empty-handed also seized this opportunity. Since the official authorities had not made a determination, it was a good opportunity for them to display conspiracy theories. In newspapers of all sizes, demons and ghosts showed their magical powers, and fake news spread to the domestic Internet, and many people were bewitched by it and started cursing.

Xu Liang never expected that the resistance he encountered during the air crash investigation was not the vast ocean, but the accusations of people. The families of the victims who were originally in the hall, under the instigation of public opinion, frequently broke out in riots. The accumulated sadness turned into strong anger and protested loudly:

“We just want justice!”

Under pressure from public opinion, the task force held several meetings to discuss whether to make the cause of the fire public. But no matter how hard they tried, even if the relevant leaders put pressure on him, Ban Maosen still insisted on his own opinion and would never give up on this bottom line.

“Since they like to guess so much, I will find the murderer and shut them up!”

Ban Maosen slapped a military order on the conference table, vowing to find the real murderer from the five bodies that had been identified within 48 hours.

But solving a case always requires methods and techniques, and one cannot just rush things.

Ban Maosen certainly understood this logic. Although he felt extremely regretful after the meeting, once the military order was issued, he had to bite the bullet and go through it even if it meant going through mountains of swords and seas of fire.

Xu Liang admired Ban Maosen’s courage. Although he didn’t know what kind of person this middle-aged man was like to never bow to reality, this was exactly the way he hoped to live.

That night, the lights in the identification center were on until midnight. In order to ensure that the identification personnel had enough energy, Ban Maosen sent everyone back to rest and left himself alone next to the microscope. Xu Liang brought some cooked seafood from the food stall outside and placed it in front of Ban Maosen’s table.

“Professor Ban, how did you get to this point?” Xu Liang asked as they ate.

“At first, I just wanted to be a police officer, buy groceries and cook meals after get off work, and help my children with their homework. I didn’t expect that on my first day at the police station, my boss said they were short of professionals in item identification, and without asking any questions, he sent me out for training. Until now, I have been doing this in the Ministry of Public Security and teaching this at the Public Security University. This job has become part of me and I can’t get rid of it even if I try.”

“You didn’t want to do this in the first place?”

Ban Maosen nodded repeatedly.

Xu Liang asked in confusion, “Don’t you ever get bored guarding this microscope every day?”

Ban Maosen thought carefully for a moment:

“At the beginning, I was really annoyed! Later, I thought about my debut and felt a sense of accomplishment. Life is always bittersweet, so I might as well focus on the present and keep walking on the path ahead.”

“No regrets?”

“No regrets!”

That night, Xu Liang, who was sleeping on the floor in the Material Appraisal Center, couldn’t sleep. He sighed repeatedly and felt extremely conflicted.

When Ban Maosen woke up, it was already bright. Looking around the appraisal center, he found that most seats were empty and everyone was gathered around a computer.

Ban Maosen frowned and walked into the crowd. He saw Xu Liang sitting in the middle, staring at the computer screen, which was playing the video footage of the security check.

“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with this security video?” Ban Maosen asked.

“Professor Ban, when I was going through security, I found a strange bottle. The liquid inside it seemed different from water…” Although Xu Liang was a little nervous, he still said it.

“Can you see the composition of the liquid under X-ray?” Ban Maosen was skeptical.

“It’s only a slight difference, but I’ve been looking at ordinary water for ten years, and that bottle does look a little strange…”

Ban Maosen did not dare to neglect it. He drove the onlookers back to their work stations, brought a stool and sat next to Xu Liang. But what Xu Liang did not expect was that when he looked at the picture again, he could not find the strange bottle.

“This video footage seems to be different from what I saw at the time.”

span>Xu Liang was very confused.

“This image was taken by a camera. The details you saw in the X-ray are easily blurred.”

Hearing this, Xu Liang looked ashen. He had mustered up his courage and gambled on his ideals and reality, but he failed because of the low pixel of the camera…

Just when Xu Liang was feeling extremely regretful, Ban Maosen came up with an idea.

“We can simulate the scene at that time, let the bottles filled with gasoline go through security checks first, and then compare the X-ray images with the original videos one by one.”

After Ban Maosen explained it several times, Xu Liang finally understood. The method was feasible, but where could he go to simulate the security check now?

Ban Maosen picked up his coat and asked Xu Liang to drive over.

“Let’s go to the airport!”

key

Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport is extremely deserted at the moment. Due to the air crash, most flights have been cancelled and the boarding signs are all red.

According to the plan, Ban Maosen would put the box of gasoline through X-ray security inspection, then take a video and ask Xu Liang to compare it.

Xu Liang was alert and carefully observed every box with bottles in the surveillance video. When a box with a bunch of keys appeared in the video, Xu Liang quickly pressed the pause button. There was a large bottle in the box, especially the bunch of keys next to the bottle, which made him feel familiar.

“Key…key…key…”

Xu Liang kept mumbling to himself, and in his mind, the images flashed back like a revolving lantern, first the five bodies, then the crying families of the victims, then the plane crash site, the Capital Airport, the man carrying the suitcase, and finally the strange bottle. Next to the bottle, there was also a bunch of keys.

“That’s it! That’s it!” Xu Liang shouted excitedly.

Ban Maosen quickly approached and saw the key so conspicuous in the picture, so he quickly reported to the marine salvage department.

With this discovery, the two hurried to the crash site and returned to the big boat. Many divers jumped down one after another. In addition to looking for the black box, they also had a special mission, which was to find the key in the vast ocean.

When Xu Liang saw this scene, he couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. He originally thought that looking for a needle in a haystack was just an idiom, but today he had truly witnessed it.

There were several ships in the distance, still transporting divers.

Ban Maosen was full of confidence and repeatedly praised that in the Chinese police community, human wave tactics are always the most reliable method no matter what the conditions are.

One day later, at the identification center, when Ban Maosen placed the key in his palm, Xu Liang was impressed by the salvage team’s ability. On the same day, the DNA test results of the five bodies stained with gasoline came out, and the identities and family information of the five people were all known.

The five people are from Dalian, Shenyang, Hong Kong, Wuhan and Urumqi.

Xu Liang and Ban Maosen took the key and went to the home of Zhang Pilin, a victim from Dalian.

On the way, Xu Liang was driving, and Ban Maosen, who was sitting in the back seat, suddenly asked:

“Xu Liang, since you told me about that strange bottle, aren’t you afraid of taking responsibility?”

“Afraid!”

“Why did you say that?”

Xu Liang thought for a moment and said firmly: “I don’t want to regret it anymore.”

Ban Maosen was still confused, but Xu Liang told him all about his ideals and the compromises he had made for life over the years:

“I am afraid of life and the future. I live day by day, forever living in the idealistic past. But the more afraid I am, the more the things I fear will come, and the more regrets I will have in life. If I choose to compromise again this time, I am afraid I will never have the chance to walk my own path again!”

“So, what’s your path?”

“I’ve made up my mind. If there’s still a chance, I’ll go after serious crimes. This is my ideal!”

Arriving at Zhang Pilin’s door, Ban Maosen handed the key to Xu Liang:

“No matter which road you take, just walk it steadily and leave no regrets.”

Xu Liang nodded and turned the key:

“Pah.”

The door opened…

Zhang Pilin

Zhang Pilin’s door was opened, and soon after, the mysteries of the plane crash were solved one after another. With focused investigation, Zhang Pilin’s motive for committing the crime also became clear.

In Zhang Pilin’s home, in the family portrait of four generations living together, the family members were smiling happily. At that time, only Zhang Pilin himself knew that if the balance could not be collected in time in May, the huge bank debt would shatter this family.

In order to plug this hole, Zhang Pilin tried every possible means, but the customers either ran away or refused to pay. In April, Zhang Pilin, who was forced into a desperate situation, bought several huge traffic insurance policies with a total insured amount of 1.4 million. In just one month, he planned four traffic accidents in a row, but each time the salesperson repeatedly checked and verified his claims with a magnifying glass, and rejected his claims again and again.

Before the end of the month, Zhang Pilin was on the blacklist of almost all insurance companies in Dalian. Seeing that the banks were pressing him step by step and his family needed to eat, Zhang Pilin placed his hopes on his Beijing customers.

“As long as the final payment for the huge project can be recovered, I still have room to turn things around.”

Early that morning, Zhang Pilin flew to Beijing alone without telling anyone. But after just a few hours, his only hope was shattered, and Zhang Pilin was completely desperate…

In everyone’s eyes, Zhang Pilin is an excellent man. After graduating from Nanjing University with a master’s degree in physics, he first worked in the Dalian Public Security Bureau as a computer engineer, then resigned and started his own business in foreign trade. Now he has opened a decoration company. If it weren’t for the huge debt, he would be a well-off middle-class city dweller.

But now, it is impossible to collect the debt. Even if it is insurance fraud, he has been blacklisted by the insurance company. Zhang Pilin sat in a Beijing hotel and scratched his head. He could not allow the family he worked hard to maintain to be swallowed up by the debt. He had to find a way. There were bursts of roars. Zhang Pilin looked up at the sky and saw a plane soaring into the sky. Soon it disappeared. He immediately had an idea in his mind.

After loading the gasoline into the suitcase, everything was ready. In the evening, Zhang Pilin arrived at the Capital International Airport and applied for seven aviation accident insurance policies in a row, with a compensation amount of up to 1 million yuan.

He was a top student in physics and knew that it was impossible to see the composition of the liquid in the bottle through X-rays used during security checks. Moreover, airlines allowed passengers to bring liquids on board. Once the plane reached an altitude of 7,000 meters, who would know what had happened up there?

When the black box was salvaged, the fire was found to be at the rear of the cabin, next to Zhang Pilin’s seat. Although the crew tried their best to put out the fire, they were unable to put it out. All the passengers on the plane saw the fire getting more and more fierce and kept moving forward, eventually causing the plane to lose balance and fall down…

road

The investigation was completed, Dalian Airport resumed traffic, and Xu Liang and Ban Maosen took the same flight back to Beijing.

After Xu Liang reluctantly saw Ban Maosen off, he also faced the trial for his dereliction of duty.

Xu Liang looked down at his feet and recalled what Ban Maosen had said.

“No matter which road you take, just keep going and don’t leave any regrets.”

Appendix 1: China Civil Aviation Safety Inspection Rules

http://www.caac.gov.cn/website/old/B1/B6/200612/t20061220_899.html

The “China Civil Aviation Safety Inspection Rules” implemented on June 1, 1999 stipulate that each passenger can carry five lighters (filled with flammable gas or fuel oil) on board.

The Notice on Adjusting the Control Measures for Carrying Liquids, Lighters and Matches on Civil Aviation Aircraft, which was implemented on December 20, 2008, stipulates that passengers can carry one lighter (except windproof lighters) or one box of matches on board. However, the notice was abolished on December 19, 2008, one day before it was implemented.

China’s civil aviation legally prohibits carrying fire on board aircraft. The current official regulations come from the “Announcement on Prohibiting Passengers from Carrying Lighters and Matches on Civil Aviation Aircraft” (Civil Aviation [2008] No. 3), which came into effect on April 7, 2008.

Appendix 2: In 2002, security technology was unable to identify liquids in passengers’ luggage, which posed a major safety hazard. The relevant departments were worried that after the truth about the May 7 air crash was made public, someone would take advantage of this loophole to create a terrorist incident, so the details were not released.

The year after the “May 7 Air Crash”, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued specific regulations on February 5, 2003 to strengthen the control of passengers carrying liquid items on board.