An F-5F twin-seat jet fighter yesterday went missing during a routine training flight off Taitung, the air force said.
Rescue helicopters and ships were sent to search for the missing plane and two pilots aboard, but as of press time, no trace of the plane or pilots had been found. Rescue efforts will continue for at least 72 hours from the time the plane was reported missing, the air force said.
The plane was suspected to have crashed, but the air force said it can not be sure whether the plane had crashed because it does not have enough information to make a judgement.
If the plane crashed as suspected, it will be the first plane the air force has lost in a crash in two years. The last fighter plane crash happened in late 1999 when a Mirage 2000-5 went missing off Hualien, also during a regular training flight. The Mirage was judged to have crashed into the sea along with the pilot.
Yesterday's incident happened at 3:08pm, 14 minutes after the No. 5356 F-5F trainer took off from Taitung's Chihhang air base for a routine training flight, the air force said. The location where the plane went missing was around 100km northeast of Taitung.
Another F-5 plane, which went on the same training flight with the missing plane, reported that it lost contact with the No. 5356 after it flew into clouds, the air force said.
It was not known yet why the plane went missing after it flew into clouds, the air force said. Weather conditions and the density of clouds at the time were normal, it said.
The two pilots, who went missing along with the plane, were identified as flight instructor Major Li Chih-ming (
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