Chen Wei, who in 2011 became the first Chinese national to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine aircraft, died in the crash of his Cessna Citation on December 20, 2018. Chen's much-publicized trip around the world in his TBM-700 (N168CW) passed through Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Russia, and back to the U.S, lasted 69 days and 110 flying hours, and raised more than $250,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. On the same trip, he became the first pilot to land a private aircraft at Beijing's Capital Airport.
Born in 1971 in Changsha, Hunan Province, Chen relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, in the late 1990s, where he attended the University of Memphis on a scholarship and graduated with a business degree. In 1998, Chen founded Sunshine Enterprises, a company focused on the wholesale distribution of Chinese industrial equipment. Started as a one-man business, the company eventually grew into a 400-person enterprise with locations across the U.S.
Chen’s love of flying began in his childhood, and he had his first flight in the 1990s when he rode with an acquaintance in a Cessna 172. Since learning to fly was too expensive for a student, it was not until 2007 that he could afford lessons. He soloed that summer, earning his wings before the end of the year. "Flying is one of the reasons I chose to stay in the U.S. I cannot imagine a life without flying," Chen once said.
Upon our first of meetup in Shanghai in 2012, Chen said, "Let's cooperate to create and promote a better GA environment in China. It’ll be a lot of fun.” Although Chen was based in the U.S., he traveled often to China to promote grassroots general aviation on television and in print, appearing on provincial TV shows and publishing a bilingual book detailing his 69-day flight.
Remembered by most as a passionate aviator with an infectious personality, Chen was the epitome of "East meets West.” Chen Wei loved flying aerobatics, warbirds, and seaplanes and wanted to create more of the same opportunities in the East. "One of the goals of my flight around the world is to promote the awareness and development of GA in China. I want my efforts to serve as a catalyst and hope that the entire industry can collaborate to usher in a golden age of domestic GA in China," he said.