The pilot was killed when he flew the two-seater plane into the building near the East Third Ring Road, injuring 13 people, the Chaoyang district government said in a statement on Saturday. There were no passengers on board the plane.

It comes as the “low-altitude economy” has been identified as an emerging sector by the Chinese government – referring to activities, businesses and services conducted in airspace below 1km (3,280 feet) such as drone flights.

Li Wei, director of the Centre for Counter-Terrorism Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a government think tank in Beijing, noted that there would have been little time to react to the situation on Friday.

“Once this civilian aircraft deviated from its flight path and headed towards the city, its speed would have been very high, leaving little reaction time for air traffic control and air defence identification,” Li said.

Identifying the aircraft’s “intent” would have been difficult, he said, and if it could not be done because the transponder was switched off then the plane would have been seen as a threat – but how to handle that posed a dilemma.